SLDN's report describes "the epithets, threats and everyday indignities that service members must silently suffer as a condition of serving our country under 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue, Don't Harass.'" Some of the remarks SLDN clients reported facing last year included: "Butt pirate. Faggots. Queers. Dyke ass bitch. Bunch of flamers. Die faggot. Twisted freaks. Rump ranger. Lezzies. And pole smoker." The report documents that commanders rarely, if ever, stop anti-gay harassment even when it is officially reported.
SLDN's report also finda that women faced a disproportionate impact under the current policy due to lesbian baiting, a form of anti-gay and sexual harassment where women are accused of being lesbians for retaliatory reasons, such as rebuffing men's sexual advances, regardless of their sexual orientation. The Pentagon's gay discharge statistics show that women comprised 31% of gay discharges last year, though they are only 14% of the active duty force. The percentage of women being discharged under the gay policy is the highest in at least two decades.
SLDN Co-Executive Director Michelle Benecke stated, "Military leaders have been AWOL when it comes to stopping anti-gay harassment and lesbian baiting. Service members have nowhere to turn inside the military when they are harassed and threatened because psychologists, Inspectors General, and others have been told to turn in gay service members seeking their help. Military leaders must own up to the hostile climate that has flourished on their watch and stop it."
The report finds that the primary reasons anti-gay harassment continues to surge are lack of recourse and accountability. Despite Pentagon statements that service members should be able to report harassment without fear of reprisal, the report notes that mental health care providers and Inspectors General have been ordered to turn in gays who come out or are discovered to be gay in the course of reporting anti-gay harassment. The report also notes the Army spokespersons have said the Army has forbidden equal opportunity officers, those who normally address complaints of racial and sexual harassment, from assisting in these cases. In addition, the report notes that the services, especially the Air Force, interrogate parents, friends and other confidantes when investigating gay cases, making it nearly impossible for lesbian, gay and bisexual service members to identify anyone in whom they can report anti-gay harassment or confide about their personal lives without fear of reprisal.
SLDN also reports the Pentagon has failed to hold anyone publicly accountable for asking, pursuing or harassing in six years under the policy. Benecke commented, "Without accountability, there can be no real change. Until commanders learn that their careers hang in the balance if they fail to observe this policy's investigative limits and intent to respect service member's privacy, nothing will change."
Next Page> Conclusions and Looking Forward> 1, 2, 3
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