GAY In before Dave: Gay's in the military, rock on!

Dory Berkowitz-Bukowski

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Oct 15, 2004
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House approves repeal of gay ban in military


WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday delivered a victory to President Barack Obama and gay rights groups by approving a proposal to repeal the law that allows gays to serve in the military only if they don't disclose their sexual orientation.

The 234-194 vote to overturn the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy reflected a view among many in Congress that America was ready for a military in which gays and straights can stand side by side in the trenches.

"I know that our military draws its strength on the integrity of our unified force, and current law challenges this integrity by creating two realities within the ranks," Rep. Susan Davis, D-Calif., said.

Republicans, who voted overwhelmingly against it, cited statements by some military leaders that they need more time to study how a change in the law could affect the lives and readiness of service members.

The House vote came just hours after the Senate Armed Services Committee took the same course and voted 16-12 in favor of repealing the 1993 law. In both cases the measure was offered as an amendment to a defense spending bill.

Obama and leading Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had actively supported the repeal so that gays could serve in the military without fear of being exposed and discharged.

In a statement after the House vote, Obama hailed the day's congressional action as "important bipartisan steps toward repeal."

"This legislation will help make our armed forces even stronger and more inclusive by allowing gay and lesbian soldiers to serve honestly and with integrity," Obama said.

"This is the beginning of the end of a shameful ban on open service by lesbian and gay troops that has weakened our national security," Joe Solmonese, president of Human Rights Campaign, a leading gay rights organization, said after the Senate panel's vote.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/7026085.html

There you go - quit bitching.


:fly::heart:
 
No, what they approved was an amendment to the yearly Defense bill that says they MIGHT repeal after the defense secretary does his report studying the effects of DADT and its repeal in December. This just guarantees another vote in December after the House and Senate have been mixed up after this mid-term election.

Granted this is a very big step in the right direction and it's about time something like this happened, but this isn't even a moratorium of the discharges until then. This does nothing until MAYBE December.
 
And the bill is still in jeopardy anyway.

The defense authorization bill typically passes with wide margins, but last year was an exception, as many Republicans voted against the bill because it included a hate-crimes provision.

The inclusion of don’t ask don’t tell could set up a similar dynamic this year.

And because the House defied President Obama's veto threat to hang onto funding for two Joint Strike Fighter engines, the situation is even stickier. With the engine money and don't ask don't tell, Obama is situated between a promise he's made to his most powerful Cabinet member and his liberal base of support on a landmark civil rights issue.

The Pentagon is aggressively pushing for a veto.

"We don't want nor need the extra engine, but this is just one step in a long journey and Secretary Gates is committed to staying engaged in this process the whole way, including if necessary ultimately recommending President Obama veto this legislation," said Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell after the vote.

So too is Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), who supports don’t ask don’t tell repeal but who fought to strip funding for the General Electric engine but who said he was encouraged by a strong vote on the amendment and the fact that the Senate Armed Services Committee did not include funding for the engine in its bill.

“I fully expect the President to follow through with his threatened veto of the Defense Authorization Act if the F-35 Extra Engine Program is in the final legislation,” Larson said."
 
R. Lee Ermey won't be happy.

R+Lee+Ermey.jpg
 
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I thought you'd be pleased with progress. :( :(

I am happy about the progress but still upset they are moving slowly and in a longer direction. The Pres actually has the power to just remove this bill without Congress approval. He has the ability to post a moratorium on dismissals this very minute while this study is going on. He didn't have to even commission a study and could just have asked for a vote, which would pass. He chose none of these options and instead is going for this very long and drawn out almost stalling approach that will not be as effective when the Dems lose seats in Congress in the midterm elections in Nov.
 
That's right. don't mess with us. Under that facade of rainbow speedos and body glitter we are lean, mean, fighting machines.

That sometimes get bashed every so often to further give the illusion we are wimps.
 
I still need a citation on the Hitler homo stuff.

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/afas-fischer-outdoes-himself

Said Fischer: "So Hitler himself was an active homosexual. And some people wonder, didn't the Germans, didn't the Nazis, persecute homosexuals? And it is true they did; they persecuted effeminate homosexuals. But Hitler recruited around him homosexuals to make up his Stormtroopers, they were his enforcers, they were his thugs. And Hitler discovered that he could not get straight soldiers to be savage and brutal and vicious enough to carry out his orders, but that homosexual solders basically had no limits and the savagery and brutality they were willing to inflict on whomever Hitler sent them after. So he surrounded himself, virtually all of the Stormtroopers, the Brownshirts, were male homosexuals."

http://afa.net/Blogs/BlogPost.aspx?id=2147494882

"Homosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and six million dead Jews. Gays in the military is an experiment that has been tried and found disastrously and tragically wanting. Maybe it's time for Congress to learn a lesson from history.

"The leftwing blogosphere has gone berzerko over comments I made on my radio program this week regarding Adolph Hitler's homosexuality and the savage homosexuality of his Storm Troopers. At this point, an excerpt of my remarks is now on YouTube and has been referred to by the Washington Post, the Huffington Post, and the Guardian in the U.K. I have been accused of sinking to new lows and excoriated for rank homophobia. The problem for my critics, however, is that I'm right."
 
I meant the academic, proven citations. The ones you would use if publishing a very deeply researched paper.