Departing Leader in Fight to End 'Don't Ask' Leaves Powerful Legacy

It was one of life's pinch-me-is-this-really-happening moments: Dixon Osburn, co-founder of the nation's leading group to lift the ban on openly gay troops, was still at the office at 7:00 one evening and noticed a fax coming through.

It read simply: "I am an admiral. I am gay. How can I help?"

The executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network immediately picked up the phone and called the retired admiral. But unwilling to settle for just one flag officer, Osburn approached two closeted generals about a battle plan to mark the 10th anniversary of Don't Ask, Don't Tell with some splashy news.

"What better way to break this huge myth that we don't exist?" recalls Osburn, who was determined to "show that there really are gay people at every level of our military, and they do good jobs and are clearly successful.

"I went to each of them and said, 'I don't want one of you to do this. I want all three of you to hold hands and jump.'"

And jump they did, making a big impact in the pages of The New York Times.

For 13 years, Osburn has steered SLDN through highs and lows in combating the 1993 law requiring gay Americans to serve closeted, celibate and in fear of being investigated. Big satisfaction, he told me in a farewell interview, has come from "getting giants to dance" — getting the Pentagon brass to respond to his teensy group's investigations.

The highs include helping 8,000 gay service personnel terrorized by Don't Ask.

Others include: Three executive orders signed by President Clinton that soften the blow of Don't Ask. A 2004 data-disclosure requirement that is why we now know the skills and background of the two patriotic Americans kicked out of the military each day simply for being gay.

And the House Armed Services hearing expected in coming weeks, the first on gays in uniform since Sen. Sam Nunn's 1993 witch hunt.

One of Osburn's lows was in 1999, when Army Pfc. Barry Winchell was murdered after the Pentagon ignored warnings to stop anti-gay harassment.

Osburn predicts Don't Ask will be scrapped in 2010, after Democrats strengthen their hold on Congress and retake the White House. "There's been an enormous amount of movement," he notes. "People always want to see that home run, but it doesn't happen that way. It is a slow and painful process of chipping away."

SLDN has shifted from spotlighting the ban's unfairness to stressing how it undermines national security by, for example, booting out gay linguists fluent in Arabic. Also, the military faces an uphill battle to add 92,000 troops by 2012. Yet 3,000 gays a year don't re-enlist because of Don't Ask, and an untold number won't volunteer to serve because they are living self-respecting, openly gay lives.

A groundbreaking Zogby survey released last December of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan shot down the argument that gays serving openly would undermine morale and recruitment: Nearly one in four knew "for certain" someone in their unit was gay; 73 percent felt comfortable with gays; and just 3 percent would "definitely not" have enlisted if out gays were allowed to serve.

Dixon Osburn enlisted long ago in an unpopular cause. Today, it's increasingly popular, largely thanks to his dedication. He has served our country honorably and well. I salute him.

Deb Price of The Detroit News writes the first nationally syndicated column on gay issues. To find out more about Deb Price and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

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