* THE FACTS *

JROTC SAYS "NO" TO DONT ASK, DONT TELL

JROTC is a 90-year leadership program in the San Francisco Unified School District that teaches Students discipline, leadership skills and the importance of civic responsibility. The San Francisco JROTC does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race or sexual orientation.

Cadets from across this spectrum openly participate in the program. JROTC instructors must have been “honorably discharged” from the military and questions regarding gender, race or sexual orientation are not allowed.

Choice for Students – JROTC/Friends of JROTC does not support the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Policy in the military. It has sent letters in support of the Military Readiness Enhancement Act in the U. S. Senate to this effect on March 19, 2007 to Dianne Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Nancy Pelosi and Tom Lantos to this effect.

Quick Facts:
1. San Francisco JROTC hiring practices do not allow any questions regarding sexual orientation, and if an instructor comes "out of closet", that would have no bearing on his or her continued employment by the program.

2. According to L. Indra Lusero, Assistant Director of the Palm Center at UC Santa Barbara which studies sexual minorities in the military, the Palm Center does not have any hard data on the issue of discharges, but anecdotally, the vast majority (of military personnel leaving due to the DADT policy) are honorably discharged.

3. According to Aaron Tax, a Staff Attorney with the Servicemembers' Legal Defense Network (SLDN), about 70% of the 12,500 service members who were dismissed under DADT since 1993 were honorably discharged. This means that there is a pool nationally of 8,750 LGBT service members who were discharged under DADT who would qualify for a staff position with the SF JROTC program.