Todd Belok, the George Washington University freshman who has been at the center of a campaign against the U.S. Military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy” after he was kicked out of the Reserve Officer Training Corps, spoke at Georgetown on Wednesday.
Belok was enrolled in the ROTC program at GW until two of his reserve peers saw him kiss his boyfriend at a fraternity party. When they informed ROTC staff about what they had seen, Belok was summoned before a superior. He was ultimately forced to drop out of the ROTC program because of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
“[The law] is a contradiction,” Belok said. “You’re supposed to trust your buddy next to you, and be able to give your feelings and get that back … but whether or not they like it, people feel trapped.”
According to Belok, the ROTC members who saw him at the party were not homophobic, but they believed they were legally obligated to report what they saw.
Representatives from the Servicemembers Legal Defense Fund, an organization that provides legal aid to gay service members, spoke about the organization’s efforts to overturn the policy. SLDF is organizing a major rally that will be held on March 13 and will feature members of Congress as guest speakers.
Jeremy Wilson-Simerman of SLDF described the current political situation as a “unique opportunity.” President Obama has indicated that he would like to repeal the current “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy of the military, and legislation to overturn the policy has 121 sponsors in Congress.
“It would be a shame if we didn’t use this opportunity to take action,” Mishkin said. “When it comes to election season again, no one is going to want to touch this issue. We really want to seize this window of opportunity because there’s a real shot of progress happening.”
Correction: the group is SLDN — Servicemembers Legal Defense NETWORK
Also, the 2007 Military Readiness Act bill had 149 sponsors.