Posted on 11/17/2010 9:32:53 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
President Barack Obama and senior White House officials urged top lawmakers to pass a measure this year that would allow gay men and women to serve openly in the US military.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the Senate would vote on a measure to end the Pentagon's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy after the Thanksgiving holiday break.
"Our Defense Department supports repealing 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' as a way to build our all-volunteer armed forces," Reid said in a statement. "We need to repeal this discriminatory policy so that any American who wants to defend our country can do so."
Obama has pledged to do away with the policy, adopted in 1993, but big gains by Republicans in the November 2 elections have raised doubts about ending the ban once the new Congress takes power in January.
A measure to end the ban cleared the House of Representatives but stalled in the Senate.
A White House spokesman said Obama called Democratic Senator Carl Levin, chairman of a Senate committee on armed services, to reiterate his support for the measure being passed by the outgoing Congress before the end of the year.
"The president's call follows the outreach over the past week by the White House to dozens of senators from both sides of the aisle on this issue," the spokesman said.
White House officials also met with Reid's staff to to press the issue, he said.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said this month he hoped the outgoing Congress would approve legislation ending the ban on gays but was unsure of the prospects for success.
Without action by Congress before the end of the year, it could become difficult for Obama to get lawmakers to repeal the policy in 2011 because Republicans, most of whom oppose lifting the ban, will control the House.
The Log Cabin Republicans, a national gay and lesbian advocacy group, won a lower court ruling in October that barred the Pentagon from enforcing the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy but an appeals court put the decision on hold. The US Supreme Court later rejected a request to lift the appeals court stay.
Sure... Why not? Relaxing such standards did wonders for the Catholic Church. Right?
I am so sick of this. Gays already serve in the military.
What do they expect? Drop DADT and then they will click their combat boats together three times, say I’m gay, I’m gay, I’m gay and the world will be rainbows and lollipops?
The only gripe I can see is perhaps the different allowances/$ for married vs single.
This has NOTHING to do with gays serving.
This has EVERYTHING to do with using gays as a weapon to weaken our military by corroding military customs and morale and especially with lawsuits (think ACLU here).
.
I wonder how long after Soros told him to demand this before he picked up the phone. Marxist traitors would at least be entertaining if they weren’t so predictable.
I wouldn’t join today if I were 18 again.
The losers should not decide such a huge issue like DADT—and if the Senate RINOs don't help filibuster any Leftist efforts to make new law (other than extending the tax cuts) Tea Party 2 in 2012 will be even more historical than Tea Party 1 in 2010.
Placermark - pingout tomorrow.
If they repeal it, the military should go on strike.
Really,once you are openly homosexual-anyone and I mean ANYONE from buck private to five star general had better not even look at you sideways or they will be up on charges of homophobia,hate crimes,general political incorrectness or just being a bwig bwully—
Then they are dishonorably discharged,demoted,sent to sensitivity training where you scream 5 thousand times that you are an evil right-wing Christian bastard not fit to police the homosexual’s used condoms on the men’s latrine floors.
Guess we need queers in the TSA too...
Let them join, but segregate them into their own units. There’s always a need for cannon fodder.
Truth to tell, if I was an enemy soldier and I knew a gay battalion was coming over the hill for me, I’d be pretty scared.
And just think of how much fun they would have on anti-piracy patrols.
“Our Defense Department supports repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ as a way to build our all-volunteer armed forces.”
This means the civilian employees of the DoD. Collectively, they have some, let us say, “imaginative” ideas about how a military should be run and function, knowing better than 4,000+ years of experience. Or at least thinking they know better.
Why doesn't someone start a group called "Patriotic Democrats". It would be a "cancer" inside the Democratic party, just a the Log Cabin boys are a "cancer" inside the Republicans! :0)
You are right they do serve now, but they serve as Americans first. Put them together out and they will want special treatment, right now they cannot use their homosexuality as a crutch.
My middle son is going to MEPS on Monday to swear in. My older son is already active. I tried to get the first to finish school to buy time, so Obama would be out of office. Didn’t work, with son #2 I am not making a big deal out of it because he will do what he wants anyway.
This whole DADT thing makes me ill. I will say this though, we have an entire generation of young men and women, who do share our values. They will be the ones coming up and they will be a force to be reckoned with!!
What a disingenuous statement (lie.) So ANY American can serve? Seems to me their are strict requirements and that many are rejected for seemingly benign traits. Does the ADA now trump military code?
Bingo! This is the bottom line with everything they attack: marriage, children, Christianity, etc.
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