Don't Ask, Don't Recruit
Seattle Lags Behind Other Cities in Banning Discriminatory Military Recruiters.

by Michael Dedrick
Free Press Contributor


The Seattle School District, by allowing military recruiters on its high school campuses, is evidently in conflict with its own policy of non-discrimination based on sexual orientation. This policy, in effect since 1991, is in clear conflict with the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" guidelines of the Department of Defense. The Seattle School District Superintendent's office, when asked for the authority under which the military is allowed into schools, referred to a state statute (RCW 28A.230.180) that gives access to military recruiters "on the same basis" as any other organization that seeks to make students aware of occupational or educational options. In actual fact, the military enjoys an exception to district policy. If Microsoft or Boeing for example, had employment policies that rejected gay/lesbian job applicants or fired them for open admission of their sexual orientation, would these companies be allowed on high school campuses?
Despite federal and state laws that mandate access by the military to public schools, there have been several successful efforts to ban recruiters from high school and college institutions because of discrimination against gays and lesbians.
In December 1991, the Rochester City School District in New York excluded armed forces recruiters by passing a resolution that barred recruiters from any organization that has a stated policy that "discriminates against any person on the basis of race, color, religion, handicap, political beliefs, age, economic status, or sexual orientation." The board said that the armed forces have a policy of sexual discrimination, quoting from a Department of Defense directive that states "homosexuality is incompatible with military service." Although the Rochester resolution was challenged in lower courts, it was upheld in the New York Court of Appeals, which affirmed the school's right to exclude the armed forces on the same basis as they would any other organization that discriminates. In a separate case, in November 1993, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Diane Lebedeff barred armed forces recruiters from the state law school in Buffalo because of discrimination against gays and lesbians. Judge Lebedeff found that former New York governor Cuomo's Executive order #28, which prohibits discrimination by executive branch agencies on the basis of sexual orientation, applied to the school as well.
The ruling was the end result of a case brought by a lesbian law student, who challenged the presence of military recruiters on campus. In her decision, Lebedeff compared the case to a similar case brought by gay and lesbian law students at the University of Connecticut in 1992. In that decision, a Hartford superior court judge held that an exemption from the school's nondiscrimination policy for military recruiters had given the armed forces a "license" to discriminate.
In August 1991, the Portland (Oregon) School Board voted to prohibit military recruitment in the Portland Public Schools. The decision was the culmination of over four years of effort by citizens and a variety of peace, justice, and human rights organizations. The district passed two resolutions: one banning any discrimination by recruiters (Resolution X6497), and a second specifically finding "the United States Armed Forces to be in violation of Board Action X6497." The resolution further "directs the Principal... in each facility to prohibit any and all activities.... directed at recruiting for any of the Armed Forces of the United States until such time as they cease their discriminatory activities."
There are some officials in our state who are concerned about discrimination issues. Seattle School Board member Al Sugiyama questions the presence of miliary recruiters in the schools. "I don't think any organization that has a policy of discrimination should be allowed in the schools. This not only includes the military, but also groups such as the Boy Scouts, which has a policy of exclusion against gays."
There are other issues that highlight the contradictions between military and civilian policies. At a time when officials are increasingly concerned about violence and guns in schools, there is a contradiction between the military's role as a heavily armed institution committed to violent solutions for public policy, and the school as teacher of nonviolent alternatives.
Another serious issue is the military's ongoing tolerance of rape, assault and other forms of sexual abuse directed toward females. After the Tailhook sexual harassment scandal, a 1995 General Accounting Office study found that women at the three elite military service academies were "being sexually harassed at the same, or in some cases, higher rates than three years ago" (New York Times, 5 April 1995).
Sexist attitudes in the military are represented at the most senior levels of command and reflect inapropriate role models for young people. After the rape of a 12 year old Okinawan girl by three service men in his command, Admiral Richard Macke, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, told reporters that "I think it was absolutely stupid" and the three should have hired a prostitute "for the same price" they paid to rent a car and abduct and assault the girl.


Help Activists with Test Case
The issues of homophobia, sexism and violence have generated opposition to military recruiters in many schools nationwide. Locally, Seattle Draft and Military Counseling Service (SDMCC) is attempting to persuade the Seattle School Board to bar recruiters outright from district schools and/or to bring a lawsuit to force the district to obey its own discrimination policies. Although legal advice has been given, a firm offer of legal counsel has not yet been obtained, nor has a gay/lesbian plaintiff volunteered for a test case. Anyone interested in being a part of this effort can contact:

SDMCC
PO Box 20604
Seattle, Wa. 98102
Tel.(206) 328-5477

[Home] [This Issue's Directory] [WFP Index] [WFP Back Issues] [E-Mail WFP]

Contents on this page were published in the January/February, 1997 edition of the Washington Free Press.
WFP, 1463 E. Republican #178, Seattle, WA -USA, 98112. -- WAfreepress@gmail.com
Copyright © 1997 WFP Collective, Inc.