From the New York Times:
Capping a 17-year political struggle, the Senate on Saturday cleared the way for repealing the Pentagon’s ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military.I’m happy to see that Illinois senators Dick Durbin (D) and Mark Kirk (R) voted yea.
By a vote of 63 to 33, with six Republicans joining Democrats, the Senate acted to cut off debate on a measure that would let President Obama declare an end to the Clinton-era policy, known as “don’t ask, don’t tell,” which allows gay members of the armed forces to serve only if they keep their sexual orientation a secret. The vote indicated that there was easily enough support to push the measure to final passage.
Update, 2:30 p.m.: The Senate has voted to repeal “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” 65 to 31.
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comments: 5
Thank goodness that's finally behind us. But let's not forget that the policy was instituted under that great liberal hero, Bill Clinton.
Then again, at least Clinton is no John McCain: "I hope that when we pass this legislation that we will understand that we are doing great damage. And we could possibly and probably, as the commandant of the Marine Corps said, and as I have been told by literally thousands of members of the military, harm the battle effectiveness vital to the survival of our young men and women in the military."
McCain’s take is sadly predictable. The study from the Palm Center, University of California, Santa Barbara makes clear that non-discriminatory policies in other militaries have served to improve, not damage, morale.
I was staggered to learn, on the ABC national news program, that 14 THOUSAND individuals had been ejected from the armed forces for sexual orientation. I had never imagined such a large number. It's always good when injustices are over-turned (and it almost never happens without a struggle.) Guess how hard it was to convince our daughter's high school that moving a geometry class to the first floor would not create world-wide anarchy..... And we are talking about a kid who was never a problem, a National Merit Scholar, and now a PhD research physicist....but they didn't want to 'make an exception' or 'create a precedent.'
Oops. Shouldn't have gotten started on that...but the parallels with disability should not be overlooked.
No, they should not be. These are both human rights issues of the 21st century.
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