The US Army secretary said Wednesday he would not discharge gay soldiers who reveal their sexual orientation in private conversations with him, despite a law barring homosexuals from serving openly in uniform.
John McHugh, the top civilian in the US Army, said that gay service members should not be punished in the course of discussions designed to assess how troops view plans to change the current law.
"I've had men and women in uniform approach me and declare that they were gay and give me their opinion," McHugh told a gathering of defense reporters.
"I just felt it would be counterproductive" to expel gays under those conditions, he said.
President Barack Obama has called for repealing the 1993 law, known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," which requires gays to keep quiet about their sexual orientation or face expulsion from the military.
Last week Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced measures to relax the enforcement of the ban while a Pentagon review examines the effect of changing the law.
McHugh said he believed there was a de facto suspension on further dismissals under the existing law.
"What the secretary has placed a moratorium on is going forward on discharges," he said.
"It is not so stated, but I think a reasonable assumption" not to carry out more discharges, he said.
The former Republican lawmaker said Gates had asked for "an open and honest discussion" of the issue in the military as part of a review of current policy.
"What I am trying to do is show the troops it's OK to talk about this, to encourage them, that we're serious about discussing it and finding out about how they feel," McHugh said.
McHugh's comments went beyond what the Pentagon has described as its official policy.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters on Wednesday the team carrying out the review of how to lift the ban would look at how gay service members could provide their views without risking expulsion.
Gates issued guidelines last week that will make it more difficult to discharge gay troops, an interim step while Congress debates repealing the law entirely.
Under the guidelines, only higher-ranking officers will be allowed to initiate and oversee discharge cases and information passed on to lawyers, clergy, psychotherapists and medical professionals would be deemed confidential.
The rules also raise the threshold for what is accepted as "credible" information, discouraging the use of hearsay, requiring those providing evidence to take an oath and "special scrutiny" for fellow troops possibly out to harm their comrades.
Copyright 2010 AFP American Edition
