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Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
 Washington, DC - Twenty-two Members of Congress have asked the Department of Defense to implement a July 2000 Anti-Harassment Action Plan (AHAP) which includes steps to curb anti-gay harassment. In a July 23, 2003 letter to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Congressional Representatives conclude "that the Services are not in full compliance" with the Plan. They also ask "that the Department of Defense evaluate the Plan's implementation" and report on its progress within six months. The Anti-Harassment Action Plan was adopted in 2000, in the wake of PFC Barry Winchell's murder at Fort Campbell, Ky. Created by a DoD Working Group, the plan includes 13-steps to curb harassment, including annual anti-harassment education and training, accountability for those who harass or condone harassment and measurement of each Service's compliance with the AHAP. "The 13 Point Anti-Harassment Action Plan," the July 23rd letter states, "will serve to better our forces by ensuring a harassment-free climate that fosters unit cohesion and good order and discipline." Congressional leaders said, however, that "nearly three years later, we are still concerned about this directive's state of implementation." Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) has reported on the Services' failure to implement the AHAP as recently as March, in its annual report on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." SLDN's Conduct Unbecoming report found that "[t]he Department of Defense has failed to issue a single directive on harassment as required by the AHAP." The report urged the Pentagon to fully implement the Plan and critiqued each service's progress in complying with the AHAP. SLDN Executive Director C. Dixon Osburn today hailed the letter as an indication that Congressional leaders take the issue of anti-gay harassment seriously. "This letter sends an important message to Pentagon leaders that they must do more to implement the Anti-Harassment Action Plan," Osburn said. "Past verbal commitments by military leaders have proven to be empty promises. The Pentagon must take its responsibility to end harassment and protect service members more seriously." Those signing the letter to Secretary Rumsfeld were House Armed Services Committee Members Rep. Jim Langevin (D-RI), Rep. Marty Meehan (D-MA), and Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA). Other signers were Rep. Rob Andrews (D-NJ), who led the effort, Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA), Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Rep. William Delahunt (D-MA), Rep. Elliot Engel (D-NY), Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Rep. George Miller (D-CA), Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA), Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Rep. Janice Schakowsky (D-IL), Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), Rep. Peter Stark (D-CA), Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) and Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO). |