Noteboom The Law Firm

Military Brass Fighting Against Openly Gay Soldiers

December 9, 2010 - Going against both the Pentagon's position and the White House's stance, top Army and Marine Generals solicited Congress to continue to prevent openly gay soldiers from serving in the military. That is, at least while there are American troops fighting a war in Afghanistan.

Both generals argued that given the current military climate, changing the policy would be too risky and cause too much strife. According to Army Gen. George Casey, repealing the ban during a war would result in enormous changes in military culture and policy and would likely result in "social upheaval" among the fighting troops. The Generals' plea to Congress struck a vital blow to President Obama's promise to repeal the ban. Their opinion holds considerable weight as they are the two branches engaging in the most combat in Afghanistan. 

Both Generals recognize repealing the ban is likely unavoidable. What they are asking is to have the ban repealed when there is not so much direct focus on their respective troops engaged in a war zone. The Air Force's top officer also believes repealing the ban without time to prepare would cause issues among troops and suggested 2012 as a more appropriate date for the repeal. The only top military officer not of the belief repealing the ban would cause risk among the ranks belongs to the Navy.

The Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff believes the best time to repeal the ban is during a war. His thinking is, there is too much focus on the war to notice the changes being made. That train of thought doesn't hold water with those opposed to lifting the ban, however. To them, the upheaval it would cause outweighs everything else.