Defense leaders warn military’s LGBTQ community ‘under attack’

Top Pentagon officials on Wednesday warned that the rise in state laws affecting those in the LGBTQ community is potentially damaging to the military. 

Speaking at a Pride Month event at the Defense Department (DOD), Space Force Chief Operating Officer Lt. Gen. DeAnna Burt pointed to the fact that “more than 400 anti-LGBTQ+ laws have been introduced at the state level” since January. 

“That number is rising and demonstrates a trend that could be dangerous for service members, their families and the readiness of the force as a whole,” Burt said.  

And Gil Cisneros, the Pentagon’s undersecretary for personnel and readiness, said “LGBTQ+ and other diverse communities are under attack, just because they are different. Hate for hate’s sake.” 

Military personnel “must stick together and we must be prepared to confront any such challenge directly,” added Cisneros, who is also the department’s chief diversity and inclusion officer.

GOP-led state legislatures have passed a spate of new laws this past year targeting the LGBTQ community that restrict gender-affirming health care for transgender youth, prohibit the discussion of gender and sexuality in schools and place bans on drag shows. 

Republican lawmakers have also harshly criticized Pentagon leaders for personnel policies that promote diversity and inclusion and seek to weed out extremist ideology. Such efforts, GOP lawmakers have said, distract from military readiness and hurt recruiting and retention efforts.  

Amid the rebukes, Pentagon leaders late last month enforced a military-wide ban on drag performances, prohibiting them on all installations. The ban stems from a long-standing DOD policy that has not always been applied, but critics say the Pentagon appears to have acquiesced to GOP pressure to cancel such performances on bases and ships.  

And earlier Wednesday, Assistant Air Force Secretary for manpower and reserve affairs Alex Wagner said he’s worried about being forced to move families from bases due to their LGBTQ children experiencing bullying and harassment in schools. 

The ongoing issue is “distracting from their mission, that’s detracting from our readiness,” Wagner said at the Center for a New American Security’s annual National Security Conference.

“If service members are thinking and concerned about the experience their kids are having, they’re not going to be focused on their jobs. They’re not gonna be focused on their mission,” Wagner added.   

At the Pentagon pride event Wednesday, Defense officials did not mention the newly enforced drag ban, but they did stress that the rapid expansion of anti-LGBTQ policies across the United States is damaging to service members and the force at large.  

Burt pointed to how new state laws could upend the process to place potential candidates for jobs in the Space Force in the right roles.  

“If a good match for a job does not feel safe being themselves and performing at their highest potential at a given location, or if their family could be denied critical health care due to the laws in that state,” she said. 

Should that be the case, “I am compelled to consider a different candidate and perhaps less-qualified,” Burt added. 

“Those barriers are a threat to our readiness, and they have a direct correlation to the resiliency and well-being of our most important operational advantage: our people.”