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Believes Openly Gay Men & Lesbians Should Serve if Called Calls Military Draft Higher 'Virtue' than Straight Privacy Rights
Moskos, who has been criticized by colleagues and civil rights advocates for his defense of the military's anti-gay policy, acknowledged that his support for drafting gays might appear to undermine the rationale for banning openly gay soldiers. But he said the draft was a "higher virtue" than the privacy rights of straight soldiers, which he has frequently cited in his opposition to letting gays serve openly with straights. He added that instituting the draft would require ending all forms of the gay ban. "You can't use a gay ban with a draft because that would make it too easy for people to get out," he said. A 1999 study by Armando Estrada, currently a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School, found that 47% of male combat marines believe that if the draft is re-instated, gays and lesbians should be included just like everyone else. According to Geoffrey Bateman, Assistant Director of the CSSMM: "Including gays and lesbians in the military would reflect this country's tradition of tolerance and diversity that have sustained our democracy for so long." During the Vietnam War, however, GayToday editor Jack Nichols (then co-editor-with Lige Clarke-- of GAY, America's first gay weekly newspaper) recommended that unhappy draftees claim to be gay to avoid being conscripted by a lying U.S. government into an unjust war. "Make Men, Avoid the Draft!" said headlines in GAY and "Bugger Up the Barracks! Clusterfuck for Peace!" |
Professor Charles Moskos, the primary author of the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy supports letting out gays serve in the military if the draft returns