Lesbian and gay servicemembers with children face additional pressures under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” explain Daniel Redman and Ilona Turner at The Nation. Servicemembers may hesitate to get involved in custody battles for their children because doing so would reveal them as gay or lesbian and get them dismissed under DADT. If they try to marry (even where it is legal), include a partner on a life insurance policy, or name a partner as guardian of their legal children in case of their death, they also risk dismissal under the policy.
I had the honor of interviewing a military same-sex couple with children a couple of years ago, and they described even more about the impact of DADT on their kids. Their children cannot play with the other children on base or go to the base holiday party for fear of revealing that they have two moms. They don’t have the support system of other military kids whose parents are also deployed.
The impact on children is only one of many reasons the policy should be repealed, but it is an important one. Kudos to The Nation for shining a light on it.
(Thanks to Nancy Polikoff for the tip.)