2/28/03--The Boston College Law School Task Force on Nondiscrimination and Military Recruiting Policies is pleased to welcome Alastair Gamble to the Law School campus on Wednesday, March 5. Gamble is one of the seven U.S. Army-trained Arabic linguists who were recently discharged involuntarily from military service because they are gay.

"The discharges of these service members received widespread attention because undisputedly the U.S. military has never had a stronger need for people with Mr. Gamble's rare language abilities," said Professor Alan Minuskin, Chair of the Task Force. "We are fortunate -- through the hard work of [law student] Zoe Butler-Stark and [professor] Buzzy Baron, co-chairs of Task Force's Programs Committee -- to have arranged Mr. Gamble's appearance."

Gamble’s skills as a linguist are in short supply in the military. Even so, he ranks among the nearly 9,000 people who have been discharged from the armed forces since 1994, the first year the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy began to be enforced. Under the policy service members are not asked about their sexuality, and gay members can continue to serve as long as they don't disclose their sexuality or engage in homosexual acts.

The BC Law Task Force on Nondiscrimination and Military Recruiting Policies was established to study issues generated by the Solomon Amendment, which requires that schools allow military recruiters full access to their campus and career service facilities. This is in conflict with school policies against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The Air Force has recently cracked down on an earlier school policy, which attempted to comply with the Solomon Amendment by allowing recruiters access to campus but not to the career service facilities or services. The Air Force threatened to pull millions of dollars in government funding if recruiters were not allowed full access.

Alastair Gamble will speak from 12:05 to 1:20 p.m. in East Wing, room 120. The talk is free and open to the public. Pizza and soft drinks will be served.