Gates issues new rules on gay ban - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

Gates issues new rules on gay ban

As expected, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Thursday that he has approved a “fairer and more appropriate” enforcement of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that bans open service by gays.

The biggest change, reflecting concerns that Gates voiced before the Senate Feb. 2 when he announced the 45-day review that led to the changes, calls for commanders to reject accusations about a service member’s alleged homosexuality made by third parties unless the accuser is willing to do so under oath.

The revisions also discourage the consideration of overheard statements and hearsay as credible evidence of homosexuality, and raise the level of the officers who can initiate and conduct fact-finding inquiries and separate enlisted service members.

“These changes reflect some of the insights we have gained over 17 years of implementing the current law, including the need for consistency, oversight and clear standards,” Gates said at a Pentagon news briefing. “I believe these changes represent an important improvement in the way the current law is put into practice. Above all, by providing a greater measure of common sense, and common decency, to a process for handling what are difficult and complex issues for all involved.”

Gates said the new rules were developed “with the full participation” of senior Defense Department and service leaders, and that the changes “are unanimously supported” by Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, Vice Chairman Marine Gen. James Cartwright and “the entire Joint Chiefs of Staff.”

Pentagon General Counsel Jeh Johnson and the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel “have also concluded that these changes are consistent with the existing 1993 law that says homosexuality is incompatible with military service,” Gates said.

Effective immediately, the changes:

• Raise the level of the officer authorized to initiate a fact-finding inquiry or separation proceedings regarding homosexual conduct to a general or flag officer in the service member’s chain of command.

• Raise the level of the officer authorized to conduct a fact-finding inquiry regarding homosexual conduct to the O-5 paygrade.

• Raise the level of the officer authorized to separate an enlisted service member for homosexual conduct to a general or flag officer in the service member’s chain of command.

• Revise what constitutes “credible information” to initiate an inquiry or separation proceeding by, for example, specifying that information provided by third parties should be given under oath, and by discouraging the use of overheard statements and hearsay.

• Revise what constitutes a “reliable person” upon whose word an inquiry can be initiated, with special scrutiny on third parties who may be motivated to harm the service member.

• Specify certain categories of confidential information that will not be used for purposes of homosexual conduct discharges. These include information provided to lawyers, clergy and psychotherapists; provided to a medical professional in the course of medical treatment; provided in the course of seeking professional assistance for domestic or physical abuse; and information about sexual orientation or conduct obtained in the course of security clearance investigations.

Still to come are the results of the separate, comprehensive study Gates has commissioned to look into ways to implement repeal, as advocated by President Obama, should Congress choose to do so.

That study’s results are due Dec. 1. While repeal bills have been introduced in both houses of Congress, Gates said he hopes they remain dormant until the second review is complete.

“I do not recommend a change in the law before we complete our study,” he said, adding that in the meantime, “we are obligated to enforce” current law.