Jewish groups debate repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
Historic opportunity or moral mistake?

Jewish Advocate, June 4, 2010
By Cara Hogan Advocate Staff

As an Orthodox Jewish group protested in Washington, D.C., against the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” last week, 10 Jewish organizations signed a letter in support of changing the controversial military policy.

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was implemented in 1993 during the Clinton Administration as a compromise, allowing gays and lesbians to serve in the military provided they kept their sexual orientation a secret.

The Senate Armed Services Committee voted 16-12 to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” last week, with Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown voting against the measure. The House has already passed the repeal, which still must pass the full Senate. The repeal would still hinge on the outcome of a Pentagon study, due Dec. 1, on how it would be implemented and its effect on service members.

“If we want G-d to protect the men and women serving in active duty, we must do what we can to insist that Congress does not undermine morality in our armed services,” said Rabbi Noson Leiter of Torah Jews for Decency, the New Jersey-based Orthodox group that organized the anti-repeal protest. “The spiritual and physical well-being of the United States has always been directly dependent on our commitment to morality.”

Leiter’s organization contends that “antireligious bias” is behind the repeal movement.

“They’re not just seeking to give rights to the gay community, they’re more animated by an antipathy towards Biblical-based opposition,” said Leiter.

Meanwhile in a letter to Congress last week, 10 organizations declared their support for repeal. Among them were the American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, Anti-Defamation League, B’nai B’rith International, National Council of Jewish Women, Union for Reform Judaism and United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

“We believe this policy is unjust and has become an anomaly among Western nations,” the letter states. “Advanced militaries throughout the world, including many of our NATO allies and Israel, allow gay, lesbian and bisexual personnel to serve openly.”

The letter noted that public opinion on the issue has changed dramatically since the policy was enacted: “In 1994, only 44 percent of Americans agreed gay and lesbian service members should be allowed to serve openly. Today, 75 percent of Americans, a majority of both Democrats and Republicans, believe openly lesbian and gay citizens should be able to serve in the U.S. military.”

Bonnie Rosenbaum, deputy director of Keshet, a Jamaica Plain-based Jewish advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, said: “There is no reason why men and women who want to serve our country should be denied the right to do so,” said Rosenbaum. “On the battlefield, sexual orientation is irrelevant – it only matters that a soldier can get the job done.”

Rosenbaum said she was proud to be the daughter of a World War II veteran, adding that her partner’s father is a retired colonel in the Army National Guard and a veteran of the Iraq war.

“No one has a right to serve in the military; it’s a privilege,” said Don Feder, who is Jewish and a former Boston Herald columnist. “I’m 63-years-old, and I’d like to be a marine, but they’re not going to take me. I think homosexuals fall into that category: because of their ‘orientation’ they’re naturally disqualified from serving openly.”

Feder is communications director of the World Congress of Families, which aims to defend the “natural family” defined by G-d as marriage between a man and a woman.

He said allowing gays to openly serve would create problems in the barracks. “This is like housing men and women together,” he said. With repeal, “there will be people wondering if some guy is interested in them sexually.”

Brian Camenker of Newton is director of MassResistance, a conservative blog that covers local and national issues. “I’ve talked to a lot of people in the military and they’re disturbed by the idea,” said Camenker, who is Jewish and lives in Newton. “I think you will see an exodus from the military and an increase in STDs and the other various pathologies associated with homosexual behavior.”

He dismisses comparisons to the Israel military. “Israel being the size of New Jersey and having a relatively small army – I think it will be different on the scale of the US,” he said. “You can’t compare the two.”

But Rosenbaum disagreed. “The irony is Israel openly allows anyone to serve, and they have one of the strongest militaries in the world,” said Rosenbaum. “That speaks for itself. Especially in a time where we’re at war, we need anyone who is willing to serve regardless of sexual orientation.”

Rabbi Stephanie Kolin of Temple Israel in Boston, the largest Reform congregation in New England, said the country is becoming more tolerant.

“History has shown in this country that we’re learning that discrimination against any one kind of person for who they are – whether race, class, gender or sexuality – is wrong,” said Kolin. “I think the world is becoming fairer as strong and powerful coalitions of faith and lay communities come together to make real change happen.”