Over 11,000 service members have been discharged from the military in the past 14 years because of their sexual orientation. It's time to lift the ban on openly gay people in the military.Stephen Benjamin describes himself as a "recruiter's dream." He is a highly trained, award-winning Navy Arabic translator who is eager and "willing to serve," yet because of the outdated and discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy of the U.S. military, he has been discharged and denied the opportunity to serve our country. Celebrated filmmaker Robert Greenwald and his Brave New Foundation, in collaboration with the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), hope to set this injustice right with a new campaign being launched at LiftTheBan.org.
"The 'don't ask don't tell policy' is legalized discrimination," said Greenwald. "Stephen Benjamin is the subject of our film, but the problem is a huge disgrace."
Reports have shown that more than 11,000 service members have been discharged from the military in the past 14 years because of their sexual orientation. Benjamin was targeted for dismissal because of some personal instant messages he had sent to his roommate, who is also gay, which were intercepted and revealed their homosexuality. In a New York Times op-ed, Benjamin explained the predicament he was in:
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