Belkin counters Maginnis' argument by saying that regardless of the sleeping arrangements, U.S. soldiers perform under an expected level of conduct: No one, gay or straight, should be having sex while on duty. "I know, the big fear is no one who is straight is going to want to shower with someone who is gay. Well, nothing will change in the shower after the ban is lifted, because known gays are already there," Belkin says, citing a study that shows about 21 percent of men in the Navy and Marines know a gay peer. "There is a culture of disregard in military showers, just as there is in a doctor's office or a gym for civilians. One can be naked in front of, or take a shower with, someone without it being a sexual experience."
Anthony Pidgeon
Vietnam Vet Chad Coolidge.
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Those who support gays serving openly in the military have two goals: an eventual lift of the overall ban in the long term, and better implementation of the current "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in the short term. Now that Bush has assumed the presidency, the latter is the most anyone expects.
"It is unrealistic to think we could overturn the ban in the next four years, but we can hope for more protection of gay soldiers if the ban is applied in a fair way, as it was meant to be," says Steve Ralls, spokesperson for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. "Considering how botched the ban's policy has been so far, there is only room for improvement over Clinton."
Yet Belkin cautions against the false sense of security a better-implemented "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy might bring. Regardless of any improvements soldiers may see under Bush, he says, the policy is just as destructive and demoralizing as an outright ban. Indeed, Tom Ammiano, the president of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors, sees it this way: "It's like, who is your favorite Menendez brother? Both options are unappealing, and the bottom line is that we really need to lift the ban."
There is little fear that Bush will move to dismantle the ban's compromise. Any talk of tinkering with "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was squelched when Donald Rumsfeld was nominated as secretary of defense. Rumsfeld was clear to say that gays in the military was not an issue Bush planned to discuss; as for himself, he stated, "The priorities are in other areas for me."
But Belkin wonders what will happen as the Bush administration matures.
"Will he still want to govern from the center, or throw bones to the right? Will Mary Cheney and Linda Powell raise a stink with their dads?" Belkin asks, referring to the lesbian daughters of both the vice president and the secretary of state. "In any case, it will only become politically safer for Bush to lift the ban, or at least say something about the violence against gays in the military."
Belkin cites Gallup polls showing that 70 percent of the American public thinks it is OK for gays to serve. Even opinion inside the military has softened. While 67 percent of men in the Army surveyed in 1992 by the University of Washington were strongly opposed to gays in their ranks, just 36 percent feel the same way today. The number of Army women who strongly oppose gays and lesbians in the military dropped from 32 to 16 percent in the same time period.
Even Lt. Col. Maginnis, a staunch supporter of the ban, sees the shift. "Society is far more tolerant than ever before," he says. "Nobody is denying that homosexuals serve in the Army. I guess now it's just a question of whether they should serve openly."
Former Pentagon official Korb hopes to see a new generation of military chiefs who will welcome rational facts over dogmatic prejudice. "As the younger guys move up the ranks, things will change because they are not so obsessed with this issue as the old generals are," he says.
Korb predicts that in the near future -- perhaps in five to 10 years -- the ban will finally end, to be replaced with a code of behavior for all people in the military, gay and straight. In the meantime, Belkin will continue to provide the academic ammunition to argue against the ban. "It will be harder for the Pentagon to practice its willful ignorance when they are forced to take the evidence into account," he says, pledging to continue his quest.
Indeed, as Korb muses: "Someday, probably not very long from now, we'll look back and wonder why the heck we were so hung up on this."
