Don't ask, yet: gays in combat.

• Author: Sanchez, Julian
• Position: Citings - Brief Article

THE PENTAGON has long argued that the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which prevents openly gay soldiers from serving in the U.S. armed forces, is necessary to preserve unit cohesion. But in wartime--when cohesion matters most--the military may be happy to wink at gay soldiers if that will keep troops in the field.

In September researchers at the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California, Santa Barbara, noticed a section of the Reserve Component Unit Commander's Handbook that provides for the postponement of discharge for homosexual soldiers whose units are due to be mobilized. U.S. Army spokesperson Kim Waldron told The Washington Blade: "The bottom line is some people are using sexual orientation to avoid...