A groundbreaking new chapter that reflects a shift in the military's attitude towards openly gay servicemembers is to be included in a journal endorsed by major military scholars.
The new chapter, 'Sexual Orientation and Military Service: Prospects for Organizational and Individual Change in the United States,' will appear in Military Life: The Psychology of Serving in Peace and Combat. This is the first time the publication will include a chapter about the service of openly gay troops. The chapter was written by Dr. Gregory M. Herek, professor of psychology at University of California, Davis and Dr. Aaron Belkin, director of the Center for the Studies of Sexual Minorities in the Military ( CSSMM ) at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Belkin and Herek argue that military culture can smoothly integrate its out troops if social and institutional changes are made. In addition to the strict enforcement of a new policy, U.S. military culture needs to be modified. The behaviors of heterosexual members need to change, and leadership needs to be strong enough to enforce the new expectations and create high costs for noncompliance.
'The inclusion of this chapter in the volume not only signals important shifts in sentiment on this issue, but it crystallizes this trend,' said Nathaniel Frank, a senior research fellow at CSSMM. 'It's going to be the first time people have heard a discussion of how to implement lifting the ban, rather than whether to implement lifting the ban.'
Recent polls show a doubling of support for the inclusion of openly gay troops and a majority of support among junior personnel, Herek and Belkin write.
'The gradual shift in thought has been accelerated since after 9/11, when it was discovered that Arabic-speaking individuals had been discharged under 'don't ask, don't tell,'' Frank said. Recently, the University of California at Santa Barbara released data showing that the Pentagon has fired 244 gay medical specialists between 1994 and 2003. Since, many have argued that allowing openly gay individuals to serve is not only a civil-rights issue, but also a national security issue.
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In the near future, the U.S. could join the list of the 24 countries that have lifted their bans, Frank predicted.
'It's a question of whether those in power will show the leadership that is needed,' he said. 'This is not ultimately a difficult thing to do.'
