Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Oh, Nevermind

I consider myself to be reasonably well informed on gay issues, especially as they are covered in the media. So I was very much caught off guard by two facts.

First, the May 5/6, 2007 edition of the leading and public voice of the American military establishment, Stars & Stripes, the official newspaper of the United States Armed Forces, published by the Department of Defense, rather nonchalantly reports that Petty Officer 3nd Class Jason Knight has been returned to active duty and even promoted to Petty Officer 2nd Class. Yawn, you say? In 2004 Jason Knight outed himself to the United States and was summarily discharged for being gay. The second fact that caught my attention is the complete lack of media coverage of this rather startling bit of sea-changing news.

According to Stars & Stripes: "On his wedding night in July 2004, then-Petty Officer 3rd Class Jason Knight finally accepted a truth he had fought against for years: he was gay.

Almost immediately, he moved to get his marriage annulled. He apologized to the woman he'd married. And when it came time to explain his changing circumstances to the Navy, he left nothing out. Under the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, he was quickly discharged from the service.

But now - whether through a clerical oversight or what some claim is an unwritten change in policy to keep more gay servicemembers in the ranks at a time of war - Jason Knight is back on active duty.

Since promoted to petty officer second class, Knight is finishing a scheduled one-year tour in Kuwait with Naval Customs Battalion Bravo. And, already kicked out of the Navy once, he sees no need to hide his sexual orientation."

Yes, as if it is not news at all, this military newspaper tells us that an openly gay American naval officer is on active combat duty in Kuwait.

Is this the first such case? An isolated case? One of many cases? Is the notorious "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy passing quietly and ignominiously into the night? Has a sea change begun in U.S. Military policy towards homosexuals that the White House and the Pentagon hope nobody notices--especially the Red States? Or will a "clerical error" soon be corrected and Knight will be discharged a second time?

Posted May 6th 2007 6:08AM by Richard Rothstein