AKA William

Share

Servicemembers United, the nation’s largest organization of gay and lesbian troops and veterans, released new data — obtained directly from the Department of Defense through a Freedom of Information Act request — that shows all minorities constitute a disproportionate percentage of DAT discharges in 2008:

The DOD discharge data – which included the Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy – revealed that out of 619 total DADT discharges [not including the undifferentiated 21 Coast Guard DADT discharges] in FY08 from these services, 279 (or just over 45%) were non-white. The Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, however, reported at the beginning of FY08 that 71% of the active duty force was white.

“We have always known that the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law has a disproportionate impact on women and minorities in the military,” said Alexander Nicholson, a former U.S. Army interrogator and the executive director of Servicemembers United. “These new numbers, however, show that the problem is getting worseand that this policy has ultimately failed.

. . . Women in the military were also hit especially hard by the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law again in FY08. While women comprise approximately 15% of the armed forces, they made up more than a third (34%) of DOD discharges under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in FY08.

Nearly twice as many people of color and more than twice as many women. I think this new report demonstrates, rather handily, how one form of discrimination lends itself quite nicely to all other forms.