Pentagon Cost of Discharging Gays Put at $500 Million

The Pentagon has spent nearly $500 million over the last decade replacing men and women forced from the service because of their homosexual orientation, congressional investigators say.

In a report to be released today, the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, found that the service branches discharge an average of 1,500 people a year for being gay. Pentagon policy deems homosexuality incompatible with military service and the maintenance of “good order, morale and discipline.”

The GAO study found that enlisted men and women make up almost all of the homosexual discharges because officers are allowed the option of resigning. Pentagon policy against homosexuality also appears to fall disproportionately on women, and the Navy is the most aggressive service branch in discharging homosexuals, the study showed.

Because the Pentagon was unable to provide a breakdown of its internal investigations, the report included no estimate on how much the government spends in pursuing thousands of cases of alleged homosexuality.

But the GAO estimated that in 1990 alone, the Pentagon spent $27 million recruiting and training replacements for discharged gays.

In 1990, the Pentagon spent $28,226 to recruit and train each enlisted person and $120,772 per officer, the report said. Between 1980 and 1990 a total of 16,692 enlisted men and women and 227 officers either were discharged or resigned because of homosexuality. In 1990 dollars, that works out to $498 million.

Assistant Defense Secretary Christopher Jehn, in a letter responding to the GAO draft report, criticized the agency for failing to distinguish between the social debate over homosexuality and the particular concerns of the military.