By 365gay Newscenter Staff
(Washington) Legislation to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the ban on gays serving openly in the military was filed Monday in the House of Representatives.
The last attempt to void the Clinton-era law died at the end of the last Congress. The new attempt was filed by Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher, a California Democrat.
The Military Enhancement Readiness Act (MREA) repeals the ban, replacing it with new provisions prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation in the Armed Forces. Last year, the MREA had 149 bipartisan cosponsors.
“This law has failed our country and our military for 15 years,” Tauscher told an afternoon news conference. “It harms military readiness and discriminates against patriotic young men and women who want to serve their country. It’s time for Congress to right this wrong.”
Sen. Ted Kennedy (D) has reportedly been working on a Senate version of the bill to be filed this year, but wants a Republican to cosponsor it.
President Barack Obama has said that he supports repeal of the ban. The White House has called for a study that could take up to a year to determine the effect of allowing gays to serve.
While previous attempts to repeal the law were bogged down when Republicans controlled Congress, there is renewed hope the measure will pass with the Democrats now in control of both houses.
Read the full article here.
Crush du Jour: Michael Bergin
3 comments:
I hate to be a naysayer...but I don't see that eliminating DADT will do much. I mean, gays are still NOT allowed to serve in the military. We'll go right back to the previous dark-age rules whereby gays could be terminated simply for "cause." And that doesn't sound like advancement to me. I wish this were the answer, but it's not.
The whole thing is simply insane. Gays have been able to serve openly in many a nation's military (Canada and Israel, for example) with no ill effect. It's time the U.S. got over this (imho). :)
While it's good news overall, it's disheartening that "...the White House has called for a study that could take up to a year to determine the effect of allowing gays to serve." It seems to be a delay tactic of some sort. :-(
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