Senate Passes "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Repeal, Sending Bill to Obama For His Signature
Saturday 18 December 2010
by: Faiz Shakir | ThinkProgress | Report
(Photo: subsetsum / Flickr)
Moments ago, by a 65-31 vote, the Senate acted to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the policy banning gays from openly serving in the military. The same six GOP senators who broke with their party during the cloture vote earlier today also voted for repeal: Sens. Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, Scott Brown, Lisa Murkowski, George Voinovich, and Mark Kirk. Two more Republicans — John Ensign and Richard Burr — joined with Democrats in final passage.
Earlier this week, the House had passed the same legislation by 250-175 vote. More than 14,000 servicemembers have been dismissed because of the DADT policy.
For many Democrats, including President Obama, today’s final passage (and the signing of the bill, which will occur in the near future) marks the fulfillment of a promise that they made repeatedly. In a speech to the Human Rights Campaign in October, Obama said, “I will end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. That’s my commitment to you.”
And in perhaps the most memorable moment of the Netroots Nation liberal bloggers conference this past July, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) was presented with Lt. Dan Choi’s graduation ring from West Point. Choi, a prominent DADT repeal advocate and Arabic-speaking linguist, was discharged from the military after he came out as gay on The Rachel Maddow Show. At the time, Reid said he would return Choi’s ring when DADT repeal is signed. “When we get it passed, you’ll take it back, right?” Reid said to Choi. “I sure will, but I’m going to hold you accountable,” Choi responded. Watch it:
Update: In a statement released this evening, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said, "Once this legislation is signed into law by the President, the Department of Defense will immediately proceed with the planning necessary to carry out this change carefully and methodically, but purposefully. ... It is therefore important that our men and women in uniform understand that while today's historic vote means that this policy will change, the implementation and certification process will take an additional period of time. In the meantime, the current law and policy will remain in effect."
Update: Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin (V), who has been evasive on Don't Ask Don't Tell, was not in the chamber today for any of the votes. ABC News reports that he was instead attending a holiday party.
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Comments
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Wonder if they will allow
Sat, 12/18/2010 - 17:54 — Anonymous (not verified)Wonder if they will allow the linguists who were discharged to come back in - with back pay!
In fact, I'm thinking that a lot of gay people who have been kicked out of the service over the years might be entitled to compensation of some form.
All this is very
Sat, 12/18/2010 - 17:56 — Abner (not verified)All this is very good.....but the larger issue is "Why would you want to fight for a country that discriminates against you?"....and why do you want to fight these bullshit wars of aggression?
These 3 wars need to be stopped...Now that CAN fight, would you please be brave and STOP???
OK, Let US count the DEM
Sat, 12/18/2010 - 18:04 — Vic Anderson (not verified)OK, Let US count the DEM days: Pullosi Punch - 4.2 (100 hours); Judy Reid - 1 DADT; Obameh - 0! O' to be Gay!! 'Tis the Season!!!
how about that? in the most
Sat, 12/18/2010 - 18:20 — tell the truth (not verified)how about that? in the most psychotic country on
the planet except iran (gay rights) we have this
beautiful day. human rights are finally made law
and we move one step closer to the day when
people are looked at as just people as this wall
is demolished! i have watched my sister be
a second class citizen for her adult life as a
result of the cruelty of america. gay marriage
isn't far behind and she can finally have all
the rights she deserves but were blocked
by goobers rednecks and religious freaks
that cram our airwaves and tv. now there
will be one less group for these monsters
to vilify. when they do we will have to
shout them down and fix that too! stupid
people are such a drag on humanity
who knows maybe in a year or 2 in
can walk her down the aisle and give
her away. in virginia no less!!! its a
great day to be human!
Great! Now gay people can
Sat, 12/18/2010 - 18:44 — Anonymous (not verified)Great! Now gay people can participate in imperial hubris - fully out of the closet. They always have participated in every horrible war this country has ever waged and the current politicos are waving this around like it's a major leap forward in human rights - they must think most of the population is dumb as a stump. There are many other perfectly acceptable forms of discrimination in the Military, looks like one of the obvious ones is verbotten now.
/bJoe Manchin represents
Sat, 12/18/2010 - 21:09 — SarahCat (not verified)/bJoe Manchin represents West Virginia (WV), not Vermont (VT) /b
Manchin is a Democratic Senator from West Virginia, not Vermont! I don't know what the "V" indicates, either because Vermont's TWO letter abbreviation is "VT". Bernie Sanders (I for Independent) is one of the U.S. Senators from VT and he is one of the lone sane voices in the entire Congress. He's a socialist and proud of it. Socialism gets a bad rap. Bernie is great.
I just want to add a note
Sat, 12/18/2010 - 23:45 — doAdoT (not verified)I just want to add a note about how good I feel that this has happened. At last.
as a queer progressive i've
Sun, 12/19/2010 - 01:11 — Anonymous (not verified)as a queer progressive i've never sent one of those emails asking to be allowed in the military. two of the great things about being queer is that you don't need to get married and you don't need to serve in the military! sure it's wrong to discriminate and all, but really now, the military itself is nothing to be proud of joining, gay or straight or anywhere in-between.
ok, ok, i'm kind of happy about it. at least it doesn't have to eat up any more of the queer movement's budget. now if we can finally get married then maybe the queer movement can put its resources into helping our homeless queer youth get into shelters? or maybe we can put our resources into passing laws so that it's not illegal to fire people because they are gay? or what about how it's legal in most places to fire people because they are transgender? oh yeah, i forgot, we need to focus on getting married and fighting imperialistic wars!
Man, how they distract us
Sun, 12/19/2010 - 02:17 — S. Wolf Britain (not verified)Man, how they distract us from what is most important, and make it appear like they're doing what they're supposed to be doing when they aren't, and won't, do it. They are not repealing the "PATRIOT Act" or any of the other unconstitutional, so-called "laws" that threaten all of us FAR MORE than the ban on being openly gay in the military. The evisceration of our human rights and civil liberties in the U.S. to not be called "terrorists" because we fulfill our human and civil duty(ies) and right(s) to dissent against U.S. government imperialism, wars for empire, mass-murder, the setting up of a corporate-fascist totalitarian militarized police state in the U.S. where all dissenters are presumed guilty of "aiding the enemy" and of being the "unprivileged enemy belligerent(s)" form of "unlawful enemy combatant(s)", and to very soon be subject to being "disappeared" and put in "indefinite detention" without true due process of law, and with nothing but a "kangaroo court" trial if that, etc., is a FAR WORSE threat than making it illegal for gays to be openly gay in the military...
...REPEAL ALL OF THE
Sun, 12/19/2010 - 02:18 — S. Wolf Britain (not verified)...REPEAL ALL OF THE DRACONIAN, UNCONSTITUTIONAL "LAWS" THAT HAVE BEEN PUT IN PLACE SINCE 9/11; STOP ERADICATING OUR U.S. HUMAN RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES, DOING AWAY WITH ALL OF OUR PRIVACY RIGHTS AND TRUE LIBERTY(IES) AND FREEDOM(S), AND TURNING THE U.S. INTO A CORPORATE-FASCIST TOTALITARIAN MILITARIZED POLICE STATE, THROUGH THE USE OF THOSE UNCONSTITUTIONAL, DRACONIAN "LAWS" (AND PASSING MORE AND MORE OF THEM); STOP ALL OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT TERRORISM AND ENDLESS WAR(S) OF AGGRESSION ("THE SUPREME INTERNATIONAL CRIME") AGAINST THE WORLD AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE; STOP ALL OF THE OVERTURNING OF THE RULE OF LAW, COMMON LAW AND DUE PROCESS OF LAW; AND STOP ALL OF THE MASS-MURDER, MASS-IMPRISONMENT, AND MASS-TORTURE; ETC.!!!!!
What a joke. After keeping
Sun, 12/19/2010 - 03:58 — Anonymous (not verified)What a joke. After keeping the war going, GITMO running, tax breaks for the rich, eroding civil rights and shoveling zillions of dollars at the banksters, they throw some sop to the liberals by letting gay people serve so they can fight their wars longer. And everybody cheers.
Great.
Correction: Man, how they
Sun, 12/19/2010 - 03:59 — S. Wolf Britain (not verified)Correction: Man, how they distract us from what is most important, and make it appear like they're doing what they're supposed to be doing when they aren't doing it, and won't do it...
So now you can be gay and be
Sun, 12/19/2010 - 06:44 — micke (not verified)So now you can be gay and be cannon fodder?
Great news for those who
Sun, 12/19/2010 - 07:19 — samd11 (not verified)Great news for those who want to serve. However, cynic that I am, I'll be waiting to see how long it takes to be implemented and how long it takes the incoming Republican congress to repeal it yet again.
If Republicans were smart,
Sun, 12/19/2010 - 07:32 — Anonymous (not verified)If Republicans were smart, they would own all human rights issues and basically take over the only real difference between Republicans and Democrats.
But, Doh!....they would have to figure out how to resolve that stance with their corporate-rights-southern-strategy.
If Democrats were smart, they would figure out this immigration thing from a MLK perspective.
Good! Now Boehner and
Sun, 12/19/2010 - 08:44 — Bang (not verified)Good! Now Boehner and Mcconnell can re-enlist.
I really don't understand,
Sun, 12/19/2010 - 13:17 — Gary A. (not verified)I really don't understand, could somebody clarify something for me? I thought Bill Clinton initiated DADT as a way for gays to serve openly in the military, but due to legislative compromises, the law somehow became an anti-gay tool. So if the bill is now repealed, it goes back to the way it was before, when gays were not able to serve in the military, and were harassed, persecuted, and prosecuted. Are my facts wrong? What am I missing here? Please enlighten me someone.
This is public relations for
Sun, 12/19/2010 - 22:13 — Unverified Poster (not verified)This is public relations for the Democratic Party War Machine. First of all, who in their right mind or possessing sound information, would willingly serve in the military, given our foreign policy these days? Not to mention the increasingly demoralized state of the military .. for just one small example, the treatment women receive, statistically speaking?
The Obama administration is trying to make Afghanistan a FASHIONABLE WAR. Pulling in enough of the liberal base to get reelected, to keep spending de l'argent on the war machine, to keep wrecking our economy, along with entire infrastructure of countries we don't belong in, to begin with !
There are of course pluses to this, as everyone knows. Integrating the military had reverberating effects throughout American society, and also created a better climate within the ranks, too. My guess is that eliminating DADT will not only make things better for gay servicepeople, but for women, as well.
Is it possible, by making a more humane military, to see, in the long run, also, a more humane foreign policy?
Perhaps. But I don't think it has anything to do with what Congress people supporting this, have in mind. With them, they are all a corrupt bunch of batards and deserve not one iota of trust after all they have been putting the American people through.
I may be an unverified poster, but take my words for their substance, not for a name or face to guide you as to their right or wrongness.
Now are we supposed to
Mon, 12/20/2010 - 00:30 — T. Mac in Republican Wacked Idaho (not verified)Now are we supposed to believe that Obama is actually accomplishing something. This is an absolute no brainer, a complete waist of time, and should have been done the first week of his presidency. I am wondering when he will start to actually do something to bring this country out of the down slide it has been in since the swindled election of 2000.
Just because gays are now allowed to serve openly, doesn't mean they will now not be fighting for a Fascist cause. I'm am sick of this B.S.