Don’t Let the Opportunity to Repeal DADT Pass

From VB Dems

With Congress now into the lame duck session, and with the House shifting to the right in January, the Senate needs to take advantage of what may be the last opportunity to repeal DADT.

From Joe Solmonese, President of the Human Rights Campaign:

The last time the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” came up for a vote in the Senate, Sen. John McCain led Republicans in a filibuster of the national defense spending bill that contains the repeal. They blocked it from an up-or-down vote – even though nearly 8 in 10 Americans now favor repealing the law.

Before time runs out, we need Senate Democrats to bring the defense bill to the floor and we need Republicans to stop threatening to derail the entire thing – including critical military equipment and pay raises – just to keep this discriminatory law on the books.

Is it just me, or is it completely absurd that Senate Republicans would hold troops’ funding hostage, just so they can ensure that lesbian and gay soldiers have to keep lying or be fired?

It’s going to take a lot more than a few anti-gay leaders in Congress to make us give up this fight. As long as injustice is written into our laws, we will not rest.

Join HRC and the Courage Campaign: call Sen. Mark Warner at (202) 224-2023 and Sen. Jim Webb at (202) 224-4024 and tell them to act this week.

Of course, the question is; what do Republicans in the Senate want in the defense authorization bill in exchange for the repeal of DADT? I haven’t seen a good answer to that question, and I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on this question in the comments.

Huge shout out to the Old Dominion University Young Democrats, led by Amanda Armstrong, who took 45 minutes today and found 45 people on campus to stop and make calls to Senator Webb and Senator Warner, asking them to support the repeal of DADT. Please join with them in calling (202) 224-4024 and supporting the end of discrimination in our nation’s military.