Left Flank

Dr. Gregory House says, he watches The L Word with the sound off. This week, I turned the volume up.

Now on to DA, DT. So last week we got to see Tasha really let loose and express what it is that drives her to serve. Every day I deal directly with service members impacted by this law, and Tasha's words were not at all unfamiliar to me. She conveyed what most of the men and women fighting DADT feel – they want to serve, they do so honorably and they are no less patriotic than their straight counterparts. Tasha is under investigation for Homosexual Conduct. She's been served with paperwork indicating she's being "chaptered out" which is how an administrative separation is handled in the military. Rather than just accepting the discharge, Tasha has chosen to fight this separation and will go to an Administrative Separation Board – kind of like a trial but much less formal.

This week Alice was confronted in her home by 2 military officers assigned to investigate Tasha. There are regulations governing the scope of a DA, DT investigation and while this kind of questioning of a civilian shouldn't have occurred, it is important to remember that it can happen. Tasha was completely justified in being angry with her military defense counsel for not warning her that the investigator might try to question Alice. Regardless of how Capt. Beech feels about gays in the military, it's his job as an attorney to properly advise his client.

Now, this is where it would be helpful to have an SLDN attorney on this case. SLDN works in tandem with military defense attorneys all the time. The majority of them are very good lawyers who vigorously defend their clients, but the reality of the situation is, however, that most military defense attorneys have never dealt with a DADT discharge. SLDN handles these cases ever single day and we have valuable expertise in navigating the law. If Tasha had called SLDN when she received notice of this investigation, we would have advised her of her rights under Article 31 to say nothing, sign nothing and speak to defense counsel. We also would have warned her that investigators might try to question her girlfriend and that, as a civilian, Alice has no obligation to speak to military investigators. Rather than agreeing to answer questions and rather than inviting them in to snoop around her apartment, Alice should have declined to answer any questions and sent them on their way.

It was nice to see Capt. Beech eventually come around and be all warm and fuzzy towards the end of the episode. How sweet. But honestly, I'm frightened to see what comes next. I hope Alice uses her internet savvy to get online and do a little research. I find it hard to believe that someone who is so plugged into the LGBT community has no idea that SLDN exists. I'm holding out hope that the writers will do the responsible thing and let people know that SLDN is here, as the only organization providing free confidential legal assistance to service members fighting DA, DT – as we have been doing every day for the last 15 years.

I will be watching for the trial.