FACT SHEET THE MILITARY BAN AND LESBIAN-BAITING * During recent debates, the military ban on gay people has often been defended on the basis of hypothesized harm to heterosexual servicemembers resulting from a change in the status quo. Rarely has the actual harm done to all military women by the ban been considered. * One such harm is lesbian-baiting, the practice of pressuring women for sex and sexually harassing women by using the threat of calling them lesbians as a means of intimidation. The military ban cultivates and justifies this form of harassment and intimidation of military women through its ban. * As documented in a comprehensive piece by Michelle Benecke and Kirstin Dodge entitled "Lesbian Baiting as Sexual Harassment: Women in the Military" (1992), the consequences of lesbian-baiting are severe. Because the military bars lesbians from service and criminalizes some homosexual conduct, women who are alleged to be lesbians face the real possibility of not only having their professional reputations tarnished but also of losing their careers and even their liberty. * The threat of being called a lesbian, and the professional consequences of this label, force military women -- straight, lesbian or bisexual -- to remain silent when they are sexually harassed, to modify the way they dress, speak and act, and to refrain from building too strong or obvious bonds with one another. * The ban has been used to justify mass investigations of military women, called "witch hunts." As a standard interrogation technique, women are forced to name others who are or who might be lesbians in order to avoid prosecution or dishonorable discharge. * Tanya Domi, a former Army Captain, who recently testified before the House Armed Services Committee, described a lesbian-baiting incident in which a fellow officer made a sexually provocative proposition to her in the presence of a junior officer. When she reported the harasser, he retaliated by accusing her of being a lesbian. Domi stated that the irony of lesbian-baiting is that the victim is investigated, not for her misconduct, but because of the harasser's. * Investigations of women are often initiated by military authorities on the basis of rumors started by male servicemembers about women who refuse the servicemen's sexual advances. Servicemen's actions along these lines are sometimes well-organized. In 1984, in Stuttgart, Germany, a group of Army enlisted men, calling themselves the "Dykebusters," systematically made sexual advances to military women and then reported those who refused their advances as lesbians. This group wore special T-shirts with the design "No Dykes" and sang their version of the theme song from the movie "Ghostbusters," retitled "Dykebusters," when they would arrive at the enlisted servicemembers' club to engage in this harassment of women. * The 1988 investigation of women on board the USS Grapple is a less systematic example of this widely- acknowledged pattern. The USS Grapple investigation began when a male crew member started rumors about the close friendship between a woman who rebuffed his sexual advances and another sailor, Petty Officer Mary Beth Harrison. The rumors were followed by an incident in which this male sailor, in front of the ship's crew and at least one of its officers, shouted profanities and accusations that the women were lesbians. On a subsequent deployment, flyers bearing the sign "no dykes" appeared around the ship. * A woman who files complaints about such harassment often finds that her superiors are either unresponsive or respond by initiating an investigation against the woman herself to determine if she is a lesbian. For example, on the USS Grapple, Harrison's superiors actually advised her not to file a complaint and appeared to have dropped the matter. Then, some months later, Harrison and three other senior women were pulled off the ship, interrogated, and subjected to a protracted investigation by NIS regarding their sexual orientation. Harrison ultimately received a general discharge under honorable conditions, although she never stated nor was proven to be a lesbian. * These investigative methods may account for the fact that women are discharged at a rate far higher than men for alleged homosexuality. According to the 1992 GAO report, "DOD's Policy on Homosexuality," women in the Air Force, Army and Navy are discharged at a rate two to three times higher than men; for Marine women, the rate is seven to eight times that of men. * Not surprisingly, many women opt not to report lesbian-baiting harassment. Some even accede to the sexual blackmail rather than inform their chain-of- command. * In an effort to counteract assumptions that they are lesbian, military women often adjust their appearance and behavior to look "hyperfeminine" and to shun women who fit the traditional stereotype of a lesbian. Rather than turn to each other for support in negotiating the stresses of their daily lives, servicewomen often remain largely isolated from one another because of the tendency of women in groups to trigger lesbian-baiting harassment and investigations. The damage to the unit cohesion and the consequent emotional isolation for military women, especially when they are in a small minority on board a ship or in a nontraditional unit, cannot be understated. * * * * Prepared by the Legal/Policy Department of the Campaign for Military Service. 2707 Massachussetts Ave, NW Washington, DC 20009. (202) 265-6666.