Senate halts Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal
Lady Gaga protests policy
by Rex Wockner
The U.S. Senate failed by four votes Sept. 21 to end a filibuster by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and move on to consideration of this year’s military funding bill that contains congressional authorization to repeal the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell gay ban.
The vote was 56 to 43. Sixty votes were needed to halt the filibuster. The measure already had passed the House of Representatives.
Although Congress may opt to fund the military after the November elections, the provision repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell seems unlikely to survive now, advocates predicted.
“Today’s Senate vote was a frustrating blow,” said Servicemembers Legal Defense Network Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis.
“We lost because of the political maneuvering dictated by the midterm elections. Let’s be clear: Opponents to repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell did not have the votes to strike those provisions from the bill.
“Instead, they had the votes for delay. Time is the enemy here. We now have no choice but to look to the lame-duck session where we’ll have a slim shot.”
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Rea Carey accused “politicians [of] playing politics with people’s lives.”
“Seventy-eight percent of Americans support ending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” she said. “The senators who led and supported the filibuster effort should be ashamed.”
Servicemembers United Executive Director Alexander Nicholson blamed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., for the loss.
“The votes to break the filibuster had previously been lined up, but last week... Harry Reid decided to use an uncommon procedural privilege on the bill that eroded support for breaking the filibuster and guaranteed the vote’s failure,” Nicholson said.
“Intense lobbying and public pressure over the past week proved not to be enough to force either side to back down.”
Courage Campaign Chairman Rick Jacobs responded to the loss by saying the Justice Department and President Barack Obama should opt not to appeal the recent federal court decision in Riverside, Calif., that struck down DADT as unconstitutional.
“We applaud the Log Cabin Republicans for initiating this case and we hope the Justice Department recognizes that it’s time to consign this discriminatory law to the dustbin of history,” Jacobs said.
Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese said the filibuster “was election-year politics at its worst.”
GetEQUAL responded by calling on Obama to issue an executive order suspending discharges under DADT between now and the time that repeal is achieved.
“Four months ago, we asked the president to stop military discharges while the U.S. Congress haggled over our rights,” the group said.
“He didn’t respond, and we’re now seeing the result of this complete lack of presidential leadership and courage. So we’re taking the fight back to the White House.”
“We need volunteers to help us hold the president accountable and meet him head-on during this election season, asking him at each campaign stop and at each fundraising party, ‘When will the discharges end?’” the direct-action group said.
“Now it’s time for our ‘fierce advocate’ to step up to the plate for us.”
Nearly 80 percent of Americans support repealing DADT, according to a recent CNN poll.