US poised to scrap ban on ‘out’ gays in the military

America’s armed forces are poised to end a 17-year policy that forced gay soldiers to keep their sexuality a secret.

The Pentagon is expected to announce later that the US military has agreed to a repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which has led to the dismissal of more than 14,000 personnel.

The long-awaited demise of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” will be hailed as a victory by US gay rights campaigners, who have run a high-level campaign on the issue in recent years, with the help of celebrity supporters like the pop star Lady Gaga.

American military officials have been consulting the Ministry of Defence to learn from Britain’s successful track record in welcoming openly gay and lesbian recruits into Britain’s Armed Forces, Channel 4 News has learned.

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was put in place by Bill Clinton’s administration in 1993 after the Democrat president failed to get a law outlawing discrimination in the armed forces past Congress.

As a compromise, the Clinton Administration issued a defence directive ending the requirement to ask recruits about their sexuality. But servicemen and women who were openly gay could still be thrown out.

Last year, US President Barack Obama signed a law allowing the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, fulfilling a promise he made to end the ban on gays in the military in his 2008 election campaign.

Mr Obama must receive notice from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and top officers that the military is happy to end the policy before he can formally consign it to the history books.

The policy will end 60 days after the President signs the paperwork and sends it to Congress, meaning the ban is likely to be finally scrapped in late September.

US courts had already signalled the death-knell of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. A California district court judge ruled last year that the policy breached the US constitution, while a federal appeals court barred the Pentagon from investigating or discharging any more people under the policy last week.

Britain’s experience

Campaigners in the US have pointed to Britain’s experience of lifting the ban on homosexuality in the Armed Forces in 2000 as a model of how such a change can be managed smoothly.

The UK military was forced to change its policy after a ruling by the Eurpean Court of Human Rights, despite claiming that “close physical and shared living conditions together with external pressures such as grave danger and war” meant that military life should be exempt from European law on discrimination.

An MoD study carried out six months later found that there was “a marked lack of reaction” to the change from within the ranks. None of the warnings about harassment, homophobic attacks or a drop in recruitment came to pass.

A spokesman for the Ministry said US defence officials had consulted Britain on the change in policy, saying: “In response to requests from the US Government, the MOD provided information on how the change in policy leading to the lifting of the ban on gay and lesbian people serving in the UK’s Armed Forces was implemented in 2000.

“Information was also provided on the assessment which was carried out two years after the ban was lifted on the impact of the change in policy on the UK’s Armed Forces.”

Channel 4 News also understands that US officials have met gay soldiers serving in the British Armed Forces to hear about their experiences firsthand as part of the information-sharing exercise.

If soldiers can’t be themselves, you can’t expect them to give 100 per cent. James Wharton

James Wharton, who made history in 2009 when he became the first openly gay recruit to appear on the front cover of the official British Army magazine Soldier, told Channel 4 News that being honest about his sexuality has made him a better soldier.

He said: “I can’t say what things are like in America but I know that if I had been in the British Army before 2000 I wouldn’t have been as effective a soldier as I am now.

“I served in Iraq in 2007, and if people had been searching through my mail to find out if I had been writing to a boyfriend, or following me when I went out, I wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on the job.

“I would probably have wanted to leave and I certainly wouldn’t have been able to be myself. If soldiers can’t be themselves, you can’t expect them to give 100 per cent.”

James Wharton, now a Lance Corporal in the Household Cavalry, shares Army accommodation with his civil partner, Thomas, who also attends official functions, something that would have been unthinkable before 2000.

He said: “My sexuality is a matter of indifference to my other Service colleagues. I have a job like everybody else and I just get on with it – that’s just normal practice.

“I think we are at a very good place now in this country. We’re very accepting. In the Army, it doesn’t matter where people are from and what their background is. If they can do the job – that’s what’s important.”

He added: “I’ve been following the situation in the US and I congratulate them. It has been a long time coming. I know today that their lives will change.”

The US think-tank Palm Center says there are at least 25 countries where people who are openly gay are allowed to serve in the military, including Austria, France, Israel and South Africa, as well as Britain. And many more countries do not have a formal ban in place.

Last year Lady Gaga led a rally against Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in Portland, Maine, on behalf of the Service members’ Legal Defense Network, an organisation dedicated to ending the policy.