Navy, Marine leaders oppose moratorium on discharging gays

Top Navy and Marine Corps officers said Wednesday that they opposed a moratorium on discharges of openly gay military personnel.

“I would encourage you to either change the law or not,” said Gen. James T. Conway, the Marine Corps commandant. “But half measures will only be confusing in the end.”

Some Democrats in Congress are pushing for a moratorium on discharges of gays and lesbians while the military studies the effects of a wholesale change in the law.

Conway and Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, said they supported the effort to study the effects of lifting the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the armed forces.

“There has never really been an assessment of the force that serves,” Roughead said. “Equally important is the feelings of the families that support that force.”

As part of the 1993 law creating the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, the Pentagon is required to remove service members who admit they are gay or are determined to be gay following accusations. More than 14,000 service members have been booted out for those reasons.

This month, Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he supported ending the ban. But none of the service chiefs testifying this week has taken a similar stand.

On Wednesday, neither Conway nor Roughead offered their personal opinion on whether gays and lesbians should serve in the military.

However, Conway, echoing arguments by some Republicans opposed to changing the policy, said that reviews of the ban should focus primarily on military readiness.

“My concern would be if somehow if that central purpose of focus would be secondary to the discussion,” Conway said.

On Tuesday, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the Army chief of staff, said he was concerned about the effects that changing the law would have on troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I do have serious concerns about the impact of repeal of the law on a force that is fully engaged in two wars and has been at war for 8 1/2 years,” Casey said Tuesday. “We just don’t know the impacts on readiness and military effectiveness.”

Opponents of the ban say that allowing gays to serve openly will not affect readiness, and that permitting them in the military is a matter of basic fairness.

Despite differences in views between top military officials who favor repeal and commanders who prefer a go-slow approach, advocacy groups opposed to “don’t ask, don’t tell” applauded the service chiefs this week for supporting the Pentagon review process.

“The testimony given by the service chiefs this week only furthers the belief that whatever orders are handed to them by their superiors, our men and women in uniform will have no trouble carrying out those orders with honor and professionalism,” said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign.

julian.barnes@latimes.com