■ Former US Navy Petty Officer Jason Knight, a victim of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’, among the 12,000 American flags ‘planted’ today in National Mall. photo courtesy Servicemembers' Legal Defense Network.

WASHINGTON, November 30, 2007  –  Twelve thousand American flags are flying on National Mall in the nation’s capital this weekend to represent the 12,000 gay servicemen and women who have been fired from the US military since the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law came into force was introduced 14 years ago today.

National Mall is a strip of parkland that runs approximately 20 blocks from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol.  The flags were ‘planted’ in the grass.

As the Servicemembers’ Legal Defense Network (SLDN) puts it, that represents two gay men or women have been fired by the Pentagon every day.

“Enough is enough,” said Aubrey Sarvis, the executive director of SLDN, a group set-up to assist those gay men and women who have been discharged.

He was speaking at the opening ceremony of the highly visible campaign which SLDN, together with other groups like Human Rights Campaign and Log Cabin Republicans, are backing.

“Today, our country pauses for a moment to remember 12,000 men and women who have rallied ‘round this flag, defended it in battle, fought for it in the name of liberty and raised it up in salute to human hope in bloom,” he said on this sunny autumn morning.

“Each of these brave service members have answered our country’s call to duty and each has been dismissed because of the law our country knows as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” he continued.

“Before this exhibit closes this weekend, six more service members will fall victim to this un-conscionable and un-American law.  I also hope that, before these flags disappear from this site, even more Americans will join the fight to repeal this law.

“Toppling “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is not just about honouring and respecting the more than 65,000 gay Americans on duty today, though that is a part of it.

“It is also not just about the 1 million lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender veterans who have served in our armed forces during their lifetime, though there is that, too.

“But it is also, in a very real and fundamental way, about upholding our country’s commitment to ‘liberty and justice for all.’

“It is about the opportunity for gay Americans to be part of the American experience.  It is about citizenship, civil rights and the full-grown flower of liberty for each one of us,” he insisted.

Mr. Sarvis then went on to recall history by pointing out that President Wilson had once said: ““The flag of the United States has not been created by rhetorical sentences in declarations of independence and in bills of rights.  It has been created by the experience of a great people, and nothing is written upon it that has not been written by their life”.

Then turning to today, Mr. Sarvis pointed out that the 12,000 flags represented those who had been wronged by ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’.

“Not all anniversaries are happy ones,” he continued.

“Fourteen years after its enactment, ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ has given us much to lament, including the lives of at least one soldier who was murdered; thousands more who have been harassed; and these 12,000 who have been fired.

“Fourteen years later, our national security is undermined and our commitment to civil liberties is weakened as we continue this law built only to preserve homophobia and perpetuate injustice.

“Fourteen years later, enough is enough.

“Today, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network is proud to join Log Cabin Republicans, the Liberty Education Forum, the Human Rights Campaign and Servicemembers United in celebrating the lives and service of great people who have sacrificed so much while serving in the shadows of this unacceptable law of second-class citizenship.

“Every day, we work for the freedom to serve for every qualified American.  Today, on the shared front lawn of our countrymen, are 12,000 reasons for every American to join us,” Mr. Sarvis concluded.

In a statement issued today, Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher said: “In the past 14 years, 12,000 servicemen and women have been discharged under the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy.

“But it’s not just those troops who suffer – it’s our security.

“At a time when the overall readiness of our military is being stretched, two otherwise qualified servicemen and women are being barred every day from providing services we need.  We need a boost in readiness so that we are prepared to face future conflicts wherever they may arise.

“A responsible and moral way to jumpstart this process is by passing the Military Readiness Enhancement Act that would repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and end the counter-productive practice of discharging qualified servicemen and women from our military.”

LINKS

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		website (HRC's dedicated DADT page)

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Posted: 30 November 2007 at 18:30 (UK time)