Military discharges for homosexuality on rise

By From Jamie McIntyre
CNN Military Affairs Correspondent

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The number of U.S. military personnel discharged for homosexuality went up 17 percent last year, according to the latest statistics released by the Pentagon Friday.

Two hundred of those discharged came from a single Army base, where a soldier suspected of being a homosexual was killed in 1999.

A total of 1,212 military service members were forced out of the U.S. military on charges of homosexual conduct in fiscal year 2000, up from 1,034 in fiscal year 1999, the Pentagon said.

Since 1994, the Pentagon has had a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy meant to allow homosexuals to serve in the U.S. military. Gay servicemembers are required to keep their sexual orientation private and avoid engaging in homosexual acts.

The increase came primarily in the Army, with 573 discharges in 2000. The Army discharged 271 soldiers for homosexuality in 1999.

The increase was due in part to the more than 200 soldiers discharged from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, an Army training base that was the center of controversy after a suspected gay soldier was killed two years ago and a base where gays were leaving in large numbers.

Pvt. Barry Winchell, who was suspected of being homosexual, was beaten to death in his barracks in July 1999 by another soldier. The killing prompted an Army investigation of whether commanders at the base created an anti-homosexual climate.

The Army concluded there was no systemic harassment at the base, but gay rights advocates disagree.

"I think the increase discharges reflect the Pentagon's failure to stop harassment," said Dixon Osburn, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a gay rights group in Washington. "I hope these numbers will spur Secretary (Donald) Rumsfeld to issue the promised guidance to prevent anti-gay harassment," he told CNN.