Center examines LGBT military deaths

A University of California think-tank estimates that since the war in Iraq began 64 of the service members who died were gay. The total number of US troops who have died since the war began in 2003 has surpassed 4,000. According to the Pentagon, 98 of these were women. The Palm Center, formerly the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military, at the University of California, Santa Barbara, said it based the estimate on previous research into the number of gays and lesbians believed to be serving in the military. The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law found that approximately 1.4 percent of active duty men and 9.3 percent of active duty women are gay. If the deaths among gays and lesbians are proportional to the deaths from the Iraq War of the rest of the military population, that would mean that fifty-five men and nine women who died in uniform were gay. Because of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military, it is impossible to accurately determine the number of LGBT casualties. "The sexual orientation of service members is a private matter. But the nation must recognize that gays and lesbians are among those giving their lives for their country, a fact that can be obscured by the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, which bars service members from being truthful about who they are," the Williams Institute said in a statement. Since the ban on gays serving openly was implemented a decade ago more than 11,000 men and women have been dismissed under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" according to the Government Accountability Office. The number of gays and lesbians who have attempted to enlist and were rejected because they said they were gay is not known. A study conducted last year for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network concluded that the US military could attract as many as 41,000 new recruits if gays and lesbians in the military were able to be open about their sexual orientation. The Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which would repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and allow gays to serve openly has been reintroduced in Congress and has bipartisan support. The bill is unlikely to get out of committee during this election year, but hearings could be held. The numbers of US war dead do not take into account what is believed to be hundreds of Iraqi gays and lesbians rounded up and executed by death squads imposing strict Islamic law. Last year the leader of an exiled Iraqi LGBT rights group told a London conference on homophobia that that militias blamed for the murders of hundreds of gay men and women are sanctioned by the government and the US-led coalition is doing little to stop the killings. Ali Hili said that the Badr and Sadr militias -- the armed wings of the two main Shia parties that control the government of Iraq -- are routinely rounding up men and women, primarily in Baghdad, suspected of being gay. The men and women are never heard from again. Five members of Hili's own group were taken away in November of 2006. About a dozen members of Rainbow For Life, another Iraqi LGBT group also have been seized and are presumed dead. Another 70 have been threatened with kidnapping Rainbow For Life has said. In 2006 the Iraq government strongly criticized a UN report on human rights that put its civilian death toll in 2006 at 34,452, saying it is "superficial" because it included people such as homosexuals.