thedrifter
06-06-05, 08:05 AM
'Don't ask, don't tell' viewed differently now
Outnumbered and outgunned, Marine platoon Sgt. Wayne Gilchrest and two of his men were trapped in a patch of Vietnamese jungle. Gilchrest hurled a grenade, forcing the enemy to duck long enough for his buddies to dash to safety. He had intended to throw another to buy himself time to escape.
But he had no more grenades, so he leaped up with his M-16 rifle.
Then, BAM! A bullet smashed into his chest and out his back. "It was like being hit by a big Mack truck going 80 mph," he recalls.
Gilchrest survived that 1967 wound and went on attend college, teach high school and eventually win election to Congress. In his second term, the Maryland Republican voted for "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the 1993 law that allows gays to serve in the military but only if they are closeted and celibate.
"I never thought much about it," he says. "It seemed like a good compromise at the time."
Yet a dozen years later, he has joined an effort to repeal what he now sees as a "ludicrous" law.
His change of heart is a welcome reminder - for lawmakers as well as others - that no one should assume that a Republican, or a conservative, or someone who backed the ban can't be persuaded to support lifting it.
Realizing the ban is wrongheaded didn't hit Gilchrest like a Mack truck. Opposing the ban just seemed obvious once he focused on the issue and connected the dots:
Dot One:Looking back, Gilchrest, awarded a Purple Heart and Bronze Star, knows he fought alongside gay Marines. "They served honorably, died for their country, lost limbs for their country. We should give them dignity."
Dot Two:The ban is a huge waste of tax dollars - about $200 million so far - that could be going to armoring Humvees to protect fighters - gay or straight - in Iraq."
Dot Three: His youngest brother, David, is gay. "He's a rock-solid guy. ... He's a perfectly normal human being. ... There's nothing wrong with being gay."
Gilchrest believes the Republican-controlled House would vote to end the gay ban if gay and gay-friendly people would talk to their busy lawmakers about the facts. Gilchrest is one of four Republicans and 79 Democrats co-sponsoring legislation to lift the ban - a position favored by 78 percent of Democrats and 52 percent of Republicans, a November Gallup poll determined. But in July 1993, when Don't Ask was announced as a liberalization of what had been a total ban on gays, Gallup found 59 percent of Republicans favored it, while 36 percent opposed it - then read to mean they didn't want even closeted gays serving.
Gilchrest, whose top legislative priority is saving the Chesapeake Bay, has never had a gay-friendly record. But he's matured - as he puts it - on gay issues and has begun educating his colleagues. Last year, when gay marriage was being denounced in a closed-door caucus of House Republicans, Gilchrest stood up and declared: "My brother is a fine, upstanding individual, a fiscal conservative, works hard. He married the finest man I know."
David Gilchrest married his partner of 16 years in Massachusetts. "Does that degrade my marriage?" his congressman brother asks. "Not one iota.
"If you had asked me that 10 years ago, I would have had to think about it. ... They are two perfectly normal human beings who love each other, just like a man and a woman. I was very happy for them."
So, could he now support equal federal benefits for gay couples, even though he voted in 1996 for a law that denies such equality?
"I guess so," he says.
A dozen years ago, advocates of allowing gay Americans to openly serve our country were outnumbered and outgunned. But with thoughtful Republicans enlisting in the fight to lift the ban, its days are surely numbered.
Ellie
Outnumbered and outgunned, Marine platoon Sgt. Wayne Gilchrest and two of his men were trapped in a patch of Vietnamese jungle. Gilchrest hurled a grenade, forcing the enemy to duck long enough for his buddies to dash to safety. He had intended to throw another to buy himself time to escape.
But he had no more grenades, so he leaped up with his M-16 rifle.
Then, BAM! A bullet smashed into his chest and out his back. "It was like being hit by a big Mack truck going 80 mph," he recalls.
Gilchrest survived that 1967 wound and went on attend college, teach high school and eventually win election to Congress. In his second term, the Maryland Republican voted for "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the 1993 law that allows gays to serve in the military but only if they are closeted and celibate.
"I never thought much about it," he says. "It seemed like a good compromise at the time."
Yet a dozen years later, he has joined an effort to repeal what he now sees as a "ludicrous" law.
His change of heart is a welcome reminder - for lawmakers as well as others - that no one should assume that a Republican, or a conservative, or someone who backed the ban can't be persuaded to support lifting it.
Realizing the ban is wrongheaded didn't hit Gilchrest like a Mack truck. Opposing the ban just seemed obvious once he focused on the issue and connected the dots:
Dot One:Looking back, Gilchrest, awarded a Purple Heart and Bronze Star, knows he fought alongside gay Marines. "They served honorably, died for their country, lost limbs for their country. We should give them dignity."
Dot Two:The ban is a huge waste of tax dollars - about $200 million so far - that could be going to armoring Humvees to protect fighters - gay or straight - in Iraq."
Dot Three: His youngest brother, David, is gay. "He's a rock-solid guy. ... He's a perfectly normal human being. ... There's nothing wrong with being gay."
Gilchrest believes the Republican-controlled House would vote to end the gay ban if gay and gay-friendly people would talk to their busy lawmakers about the facts. Gilchrest is one of four Republicans and 79 Democrats co-sponsoring legislation to lift the ban - a position favored by 78 percent of Democrats and 52 percent of Republicans, a November Gallup poll determined. But in July 1993, when Don't Ask was announced as a liberalization of what had been a total ban on gays, Gallup found 59 percent of Republicans favored it, while 36 percent opposed it - then read to mean they didn't want even closeted gays serving.
Gilchrest, whose top legislative priority is saving the Chesapeake Bay, has never had a gay-friendly record. But he's matured - as he puts it - on gay issues and has begun educating his colleagues. Last year, when gay marriage was being denounced in a closed-door caucus of House Republicans, Gilchrest stood up and declared: "My brother is a fine, upstanding individual, a fiscal conservative, works hard. He married the finest man I know."
David Gilchrest married his partner of 16 years in Massachusetts. "Does that degrade my marriage?" his congressman brother asks. "Not one iota.
"If you had asked me that 10 years ago, I would have had to think about it. ... They are two perfectly normal human beings who love each other, just like a man and a woman. I was very happy for them."
So, could he now support equal federal benefits for gay couples, even though he voted in 1996 for a law that denies such equality?
"I guess so," he says.
A dozen years ago, advocates of allowing gay Americans to openly serve our country were outnumbered and outgunned. But with thoughtful Republicans enlisting in the fight to lift the ban, its days are surely numbered.
Ellie