On the 15th anniversary of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT), the federal law prohibiting gays and lesbians from serving in the military, Congressmember Jim Moran, D-Va., released information showing that 11 soldiers had been discharged from the military in January 2009, and Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., reintroduced The Military Enhancement Readiness Act (H.R. 1283), a bill that seeks to repeal the ban.

“This law has failed our country and our military for 15 years,” said Rep. Tauscher. “It harms military readiness and discriminates against patriotic young men and women who want to serve their country. It’s time for Congress to right this wrong.”

“At a time when our military’s readiness is strained to the breaking point from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the armed forces continue to discharge vital service members under the outdated, outmoded ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy,” Moran, a longtime opponent of military policy and an original co-sponsor of MREA, said.

In January 2009, the Army fired one human intelligence collector, one military police officer, four infantry personnel, a health care specialist, a motor transport operator and a water treatment specialist under the military policy. These soldiers were the last to be discharged under DADT by the Bush Administration.

Between 1997 and 2007, the military discharged nearly 10,000 servicemembers under the policy. The number fired each year dropped sharply after the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, when forces were stretched thin. While more than 1,200 were dismissed in 2000 and again in 2001 for violating the policy, about half as many (627) were fired in 2007.

“Are these the last of the discharges under ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Or will President Obama’s Pentagon discharge more mission-critical intelligence specialists next month?” asked Dr. Nathaniel Frank, Senior Research Fellow at the Palm Center, an academic think-tank at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

If passed, MREA would replace DADT with new provisions prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation in the Armed Forces.

“Rep. Tauscher’s bill will significantly improve our military readiness by allowing highly qualified linguists, medics and intelligence analysts to serve openly in the armed forces,” said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN).

A forthcoming Palm Center study by a panel of military law experts argues that President Obama has the authority to suspend the gay discharge process today by issuing an executive order. While “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is a federal law, the new study argues, the president has the power as Commander in Chief to stop firing troops under DADT if doing so would promote national security.

The White House has said President Barack Obama has begun consulting with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Administration Michael Mullen on how to lift the ban. But the administration won’t say how soon that might happen or whether a group of experts will be commissioned to study the issue in depth, as some Democrats have suggested.

Local veteran Col. Stewart Bornhoft, USA (Ret.) served in the Army for 26 years before retiring in 1995. Bornhoft came to terms that he was gay early in his military career but kept quiet and continued to serve, knowing full well that if he came out, he would be discharged.

“You’re absolutely leading a double life. You’re not true to yourself; you’re not true to the people around you. I tried to make the best with a very awkward situation,” Bornhoft said.

Fmr. Lt. Stephen McNabb, a retired veteran, served in the Navy for almost eight years, retiring in 1997. McNabb knew he was gay from the start and accepted it; that is, until his seventh year of service to the country.

“I was actually OK early on, but when I got to my seventh year, when I had to decide on whether to stay or get out, I came to the realization that it would have raised issues if I had not dated soon thereafter,” McNabb said.

“There was a sort of understanding that if you are trying to get promoted as you are running a full career in the Navy that getting married was part of that, and that was a thing I couldn’t do.”

In 1995, Bornhoft and McNabb met and started dating. Bornhoft filed for divorce and McNabb became an emergency helicopter pilot in the private sector. The Bonita couple married last fall.

Bornhoft, an honorary SLDN boardmember, said he is the “extrovert” in the union. He co-wrote an opinion piece in the March 15 issue of the San Diego Union-Tribune with his friend and fellow veteran Robert Lehman, in which they discuss DADT’s myths and misconceptions.

“The fact that we, or anyone in the military, happen to be gay doesn’t stop us from bravely serving our country. In fact, it just makes us want to fight even harder to make our country a land of freedom for all,” they wrote.