Margaret Witt
A decorated Air Force Reserve flight nurse, who successfully challenged her dismissal under the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, said on Tuesday she will retire rather than return to duty.
As part of a settlement reached with the military, Major Margaret Witt, 47, will receive full retirement benefits in exchange for the government dropping its appeal of her legal victory and removing the unlawful discharge from her service record. [...]
Asked at a news conference on Tuesday why she decided instead to retire, Witt paused and replied, “My family,” before putting an arm around the waist of her partner, Laurie McChesney.
“I wanted to be there for my family. Moving forward, it was the right thing to do.”
In a September 2010 judgment hailed by gay rights advocates, U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton ruled that Witt was “constitutionally” entitled to return to the job, from which she was discharged in 2007.
During the trial, Witt claimed she adhered to the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and never discussed her sexuality — she said she was outed against her will.
Leighton said the application of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in Witt’s case did “not significantly further the government’s interest in promoting military readiness, unit morale and cohesion.”
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It’s sad we lose the decades worth of experience forcing her to retire instead of benefiting from that experience. All because she happens to be gay! It’s so astoundingly irrational! When this happens, it is in fact putting other American lives in danger, and hurting our country and the strength of our military. Makes me sick to my stomach!
yes…but things are progressing ever forward…because of her and others that followed! Their was no such thing as an openly gay person challenging the system being to retire…. Ther was however…ridicule, sometimes secretly, violenced was perpetrated against them …maybe encouraged or even overlooked….there was court marshall, and disgusting investigations delving into personal parts of ones life with vulgarity, in your face inquiries by CIA FBI Military Int. …there was alot of mind torture and just simply a freedom for anyone to treat you as less then in any way they wanted so they could feel important and right in the way they were as humans…..
There was also court marshalls and jailtime, there was dishonerable discharges, lawyers and fines…..
Before DADT there was a run amok way the military dealt with gays…they even used it to setup and sting people who were not gay in order to get rid of them….
DADT is not the greatest…but it is a step ahead of wear is was before that . And when it was implemented I hears Clinton speak of it as a step forward,because that was the only step he was going to get out of congress….and he then spoke of the unconstitutionality of it and how he knew it would be challenged one day…bringing about more progress…he also said it could take about 20 yrs for it to happen…peoples minds would evolve but they would take that long. And when the laws finally could change to be equal then the people still stuck in their old ways would have no more power and the attitudes would lose importance…..
Yes it upsets me that Margaret Witt must retire….
But I celebrate all she has done for us and for her. Through her courage, her belief in herself and her belief that the armed forces is capable of so much more than present is the reason that things have progressed so far! I salute her and all she has done for this country and I thank her ! She is truly a brave and honerable soldier!