Monterey, Calif.
Nine Army linguists, including six Arabic experts, were dismissed in the last year because they were gay. A spokesman at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, said two soldiers were caught together after curfew. The other seven admitted they were gay, and were therefore in violation of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy against homosexuals in the military. The news spread when one of the soldiers, Alastair Gamble, went public. “They’re throwing out good, quality people,” he said. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who is openly gay, called it the “height of stupidity” to discharge language experts when the U.S. faces a critical shortage of Arabic interpreters for the war on terrorism. “This puts prejudice ahead of national security.”
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