Another anti-gay murder shows
'Don't ask, don't tell' caters to military bigotry,
bashings
By Pat
Chin
Three days after hearings on the beating death of Army
private Barry Winchell, the Pentagon announced on Aug. 13
revised guidelines for its "don't ask, don't tell, don't
pursue" policy on lesbians and gays in the military.
But the news was pelted with criticism by gay-rights
advocates, who say that the changes don't go far enough to end
the surge of violent attacks and witch hunts against gays and
lesbians in the armed forces.
"This is not a new day," said Michelle Benecke, co-director
of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. The new procedures
"do not provide the sort of detailed direction to commanders
that might prevent the sort of abuse that appears to have led
to last month's death of a soldier at Fort Campbell, Ky." (New
York Times, Aug. 14)
Winchell, 21, was beaten with a bat in the early hours of
July 5 at the U.S. Army's Fort Campbell base. The attack was so
vicious that Winchell died the next day.
After an outcry from the gay and lesbian community, Pvt.
Calvin Glover was charged with premeditated murder. Winchell's
roommate, Spc. Justin Fisher, was accused of being a principal
in the murder as well as acting as an accessory.
At hearings held Aug. 9-10 at the army base, witnesses
testified that Glover had been furious over losing a fight with
Winchell. Glover, who was openly anti-gay, had been taunted for
getting his "ass kicked by a faggot." He reportedly vowed to
"get even" and threatened to kill Winchell. (New York Blade,
Aug. 13)
According to other testimony, Winchell had endured anti-gay
slurs on a daily basis for almost six months prior to his
death. But instead of taking action against the homophobic
victimizers, Sgt. Michael Kleig fen-- Winchell's section
leader--launched a witch hunt into his sexuality.
Gay civil-rights attorneys blasted Kleig fen's investigation
as a clear violation of the Clinton-backed "don't ask, don't
tell" policy, which is allegedly supposed to protect gays and
lesbians--as long as they don't talk about their sexual
preferences.
"The testimony ... suggests that in the months prior to his
murder, Pfc. Winchell was asked, pursued and harassed about his
perceived sexual orientation in direct violation of `don't ask,
don't tell, don't pursue,' " said C. Dixon Osburn, co-director
of the SLDN.
"We've pressed [Defense] Secretary Cohen for two years now
to tell commanders the investigative limits and how to properly
implement these policies," added Benecke. "There's nothing in
the package today that does that. What's here is inadequate to
address the magnitude of the problem."
David Smith of the Human Rights Campaign agreed that the new
instructions were too limited. But neither he nor Benecke
called for the abolition of "don't ask, don't tell" and for
full civil rights for gays and lesbians in the military.
Blame Clinton and the brass
During Bill Clinton's 1992 run for the presidency, he
pledged to end the ban against gays and lesbians in the armed
forces. But after being elected, Clinton spinelessly backed
down after a near-mutiny of the military brass. "Don't ask,
don't tell" was the compromise between the White House and the
homophobes at the Pentagon.
The policy didn't end the discriminatory ban against openly
gay service people, but it was supposed to protect those who
remained closeted. Base commanders were barred, for example,
from asking military personnel about their sexual orientation.
But anti-gay discrimination, harassment and violence, as well
as the number of gays and lesbians dismissed from the military
have actually increased since the policy was implemented.
According to the Defense Department's own figures, 1,145 gay
men and lesbians were discharged in 1998. That's up 13 percent
from 1997 and nearly double that since 1993, the year "don't
ask, don't tell" went into effect.
Gay-rights advocates charge that investigations into the sex
life of service people for evidence of homosexuality are often
used to force military personnel about to be discharged to
repay scholarships and other benefits.
Moreover, when women in the armed forces report sexual
harassment they are often accused of being lesbians, and
investigated.
Military personnel are still routinely asked about their
sexuality and terminated if they admit to being gay, lesbian or
bisexual. They are also forced to implicate others who might be
gay. The accused person then becomes subject to physical abuse,
death threats, verbal harassment and anti-gay slurs. In
Winchell's case, murder was the outcome.
Under the new guidelines, which came from the pressure of
community outrage over Winchell's death, base commanders must
seek approval from "higher-ups" before investigating anyone for
homosexuality.
This implies that "underlings" are to blame for the increase
in anti-gay oppression. That lets off the hook Clinton and the
Pentagon, who implemented "don't ask, don't tell." But as the
saying goes, "the fish rots from the head."
Clinton's long record of accommodating to right-wing
reaction can't be clearer than with issues concerning the
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. His early
capitulation to the Pentagon is only one example.
In 1996 his reelection campaign appealed to the religious
right wing on an anti-gay basis by promoting, on the airways of
fundamentalist-Christian radio programs, Clinton's endorsement
of the reactionary "Defense of Marriage Act."
Then there was the Clinton Justice Department's refusal to
file a friend-of-the-court brief in Colorado's anti-gay
amendment case. And Clinton's exclusion of gay youths from the
White House "summit" on violence after the Columbine High
School massacre.
All this coming from the great "I-feel-your-pain" Democrat
in the White House.
The U.S. military is an instrument of oppressive rule that
protects the economic interests of the capitalist class on a
global scale. Under the profit system large numbers of
working-class youths turn to the armed forces as the only way
to make a living. Not all of them are heterosexual.
The struggle to end discrimination in the military is
progressive and should be supported. But the best way to end
anti-gay bigotry, trans-bashing, racism, sexism and war is to
abolish the Pentagon and the class of parasites it protects
that benefits from social divisions in their quest for
limitless profits.
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