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Loading ...Senate to hold hearings on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold hearings on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell – the first hearings to be held on gays in the military since 1993.
The hearings come at the prompting of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) after she realized she would be unable to secure the votes needed for an amendment to the Military Reauthorization Act which would instruct the Department of Defense to stop investigating servicemembers for being gay.Congressional action might lessen pressure on the White House, says the Daily Beast – the Palm Center, which in May released a report suggesting President Obama could use stop-loss to halt gay discharges, is expected to issue new research this week called, “A Self-Inflicted Wound: How and Why Gays Give the White House a Free Pass on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Since Obama took office, 265 men and women have been dismissed under the military ban. Sixty-nine percent of Americans believe the ban should be lifted.
Read the full Daily Beast story by Jason Bellini.
I think congress needs to find job’s for the men and women that have been dismissed from the military under the DADT policy. It is difficult to acquire a good state and federal job, or even a county job, if you have a less than honorable discharge.
These men and women not only lose their jobs, they lose their esteemed service records as well. Everyone who serves in the military is a Hero to me and should be celebrated, regardless of who they have sex with.
This is a good step, but that’s all it is – a step! Every LGBT person in this country needs to call their Representative and Senators (even those in Rebublican states) and tell them to repeal DADT. Only when the politicians see that the majority of people want this repealed will action then be taken. And no one should say, “Buy my Congressman is Republican and doesn’t support this, that or the other.” Congress is elected by the people and all politicians are swayed by the polls. If they are getting more calls saying repeal DADT than don’t repeal it, guess which way they are going to go?
I hate to rain on everybody’s parade but most of us have already written, phoned and e-mailed our Congressional Reps and Senators. Unfortunately they really don’t care — no grease is lining their palms, and without lots of lobbyist cash nothing is going to change. We’ve the most corrupt government on earth, with the POSSIBLE exception of China and Russia. Possibly they are more corrupt; it remains to be seen.
As for the servicemen and servicewomen, it’s time they united and began a class action lawsuit. It’s all this “nation” understands.
Very nice to have Senator Gillibrand around. Only representative (from either party) that seems to have the balls to stick up for equality.
Thomas: Corrupt? The United States is actually one of the least corrupt nations on the planet.
The Corruption Perceptions Index rates the US at #18 (out of 180), tied with Belgium and Japan. (#1 is perceived the least corrupt, #180 is perceived the most corrupt.)
That puts us behind Canada, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and a number of (but not all) Western European nations.
Poorer-ranked nations include France, Spain, Portugal, every country in Asia (except Japan and Singapore), every country in the Middle East, every country in Africa and every country in South America.
I know how fun it is to bad-mouth the US, but please do your research before running your mouth about things you know nothing about.
More delays on a stupid and silly law that was ever passed in US history – what an embarrassment!!!
UK, Australia, South Africa, Canada, plenty of other European nations allow openly gay soildiers in the military – whay are we they only ones with this policy in the Western World??????
Is this because the US really want to be like China and Russia – which also have these stupid, crazy and silly DADT policies.
And I personally sleeped with a sexy marine – and I loved it there HOT!!!
If gays were allowed to serve openly in the military back in 2000, terrorists never would have come to America and we as a nation would be much more prosperous, safer and more democratic.
>Sixty-nine percent of Americans believe the ban should be lifted.
69% is pretty darn high. It had been polling at or around that number for a few years now.
The hold up is NOT convincing the American people…it’s about convincing the powers that be within the military. Clearly!