University students protested the U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy outside the local military recruitment office yesterday. The students worked with the Right to Serve Campaign in hopes of calling attention to the policy, which prohibits lesbian, gay and bisexual service members from revealing their sexual orientation.
Three openly lesbian and gay University students, Wyatt Fore, Rachel Miller and Alvin Valdez, planned to enlist in the military yesterday morning. Upon being rejected, which is routine military policy, the three planned to stage a sit-in along with other students supporting the cause, said third-year College student and demonstration leader Wyatt Fore.
However, upon their arrival at the recruitment office, the demonstrators discovered that it had been locked with blinds drawn, Fore said.
"[The police] told us that the recruiting center was closing down today and nobody was in there," Fore said.
The demonstrators decided to stay outside until action was taken, Fore said.
They were told that the property manager would press charges for trespassing, but no charges have yet been pressed, Fore said. The demonstrators plan on returning today to continue their protest.
"The purpose of the policy is to allow gays in the military, to give them that career opportunity and to alleviate the concerns within the military about disputes about homosexuality," Law Prof. George Rutherglen said.
Since its establishment in 1993, the policy has created controversy about its treatment of gays, lesbians and bisexuals.
Without the policy, "they would enjoy a much greater freedom ... [and] they would get to share their lives with their co-workers," said Haven Herrin, co-director of Soulforce, the organization which sponsors the Right to Serve Campaign.
The mission of the Right to Serve Campaign is to draw attention to the discrimination that gays, lesbians and bisexuals encounter when enlisting and serving in the military and to eventually enable openly gay adults to enlist, Herrin said.
Since the establishment of this policy in 1993, 11,000 lesbian, gay and bisexual service members have been discharged from the military, Herrin said. Surveys show that if the policy was to be abolished, 42,000 openly lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans would enlist.
"I would just like to urge [people] to get to know gay people," Fore said. "We aren't evil. We aren't scary ... We are just normal people who want to serve our country with honor and dignity."
--Meghan Doletzky contributed to this article
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