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Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Defense Sect. Gates says military to be lenient while studying policy on gays

By Brian Kates / New York Daily News

Don't ask, don't tell. Don't worry.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates says military brass will take a lenient stance toward gays while the Pentagon takes a year to study revising its policy against homosexuals in the service.

The study, expected to be announced Tuesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, is a step in the slow march toward President Obama's goal of eliminating the military's policy banning gays from military service.

The study will be led by an "active-duty four-star general" and a "senior-level" civilian Pentagon official, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said.

It will recommend the best way to lift the ban without harming the capabilities or cohesion of the military force, officials said.

While the study is being hailed as a good start by gay rights activists, high-ranking military officers have been reluctant to support a change while troops are stretched thin on two battle fronts.

Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are expected to outline a more lenient standard for enforcing the current ban while the study takes place, sources familiar with the stragegy said.

The interim policy would make it harder for a third party to turn in a gay service member and would raise the standard of evidence for dismissing a gay service member.

Since 1993, engaging in homosexual conduct can be enough to qualify a person for dismissal from military service. The law was crafted as a compromise between then-President Bill Clinton, who wanted to lift the military's ban on gays entirely, and a reluctant Congress and military.

The Defense Department last year dismissed 428 service members for being gay, the fewest in more than a decade and dramatically less than the 2008 total of 619, according to figures released Monday,

Overall, more than 10,900 troops have been discharged under the policy.