Gays and the Military

Debunking the Myth of the Unit Cohesion Rationale

The issue of gays in the military has been a topic of significant debate in the United States for decades, with many people opposing the inclusion of homosexuals in the military for a variety of moral, religious and other reasons. Thus, in 1994, when President Bill Clinton tried to fulfill a campaign promise by drafting a policy that would allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military, Congress responded by amending to National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 to embody what has now become known as the "don't ask, don't tell" policy (Belkin & Levitt 541).

The Pentagon has implemented this policy in its regulations. Under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, military officials may not enquire into a military person's sex life unless there is evidence of homosexual conduct (Files A24). However, if a military person volunteers the information that they are homosexual, the military can discharge that person (Files A24). Essentially, therefore, the regulations establish that known homosexuals may not serve in the U.S. armed forces (Belkin & Levitt 541). The Pentagon's rationale for its policy is the "unit cohesion rationale" (Belkin & Levitt 541). This rationale contends that unit cohesion, performance, readiness, and morale would decline if known homosexuals were allowed to serve in the military (Belkin & Levitt 541). This paper examines the cases of known h

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bin responded to the revelations by declaring that "I don't see any reason to discriminate against homosexuals" and called for a military committee to explore the matter (Belkin & Levitt 541). The result was an IDF order that officially recognized that homosexuals were entitled to serve in the military and that they would be judged fit for service according to the criteria for all candidates for security service (Belkin & Levitt 541). Thus, to determine whether Israel's policy has undermined unit cohesion, Belkin & Levitt studied almost everything written on the subject of gays in the military generally and all information available about gays in the IDF specifically, including expert interviews on the issue of gays in the Israeli military and government transcripts of Knesset hearings and military orders relevant to homosexual service in the IDF (Belkin & Levitt 541). The comments of Stuart Cohen, a professor and senior research fellow at the Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, were illustrative of their findings. Cohen stated, "As far as I have been able to tell, homosexuals do not constitute an issue [with respect to] unit cohesion in the IDF" (Belkin & Levitt 541). In addition, Amir Fink, the author
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Approximate Word count = 1456
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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