In response to my two previous posts on Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell, one reader says:

While I agree with you, let me point out an oft-forgotten point: the military doesn’t have any control over whether or not gays serve. Congress does. If a person is discovered to be homosexual, his/her Commander is required by law to initiate seperation action. There is no choice in the matter. For the issue to change, Congress must revise the applicable Military Law.

The same goes for troop levels: the Pentagon can’t arbitrarily increase troop levels anywhere it wants; it must consider it’s total allowed effective strength, and meet treaty-obligated force levels in various places. South Korea and Europe have a min-manning that MUST be met, because Congress and the President have entered into treaties that require it.

If I remember it right, Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell started as an executive order signed by President Clinton, which means it can only be rescinded by another executive order or, as this reader points out, by an act of Congress.

If this is the case, it has interesting implications for my current film project. A number of schools ban ROTC and refuse to allow military recruiters on campus. Although these bans go back to the Vietnam War, the current stated reason is that Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell discriminates against gays, so banning the military from campus is a protest against Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell. But if the military has no control over the policy, then why are these schools punishing the military for something they don’t control? It’s like punishing people for the color of their eyes.

I’ve created a discussion topic about this; if anyone has more information about the legal details of this, please join the discussion and let us know!