Today, the winds of change could come for a our soldiers. Seventeen years ago, President Clinton enacted the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy which put into law that no soldier could serve openly as a Gay man or woman. The senate has the power to vote to repeal and that vote is today.
We want to take this vote, and put it into a brief description.
To vote to keep DADT would be DISCRIMINATION.
To vote to repeal DADT would be JUSTICE
President Clinton stated a year ago while appearing on Anderson Cooper 360 that he regrets enacting that law. Exclusive here on EqualJunction.com, Clinton stated that in 1993, he was an old man, and he acted on old man views.
Yesterday, Lady Gaga stated “Equality is the prime rib of America,” she said, urging Sens.Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe to share “the greatest cut of meat that my country has to offer” with gays and lesbians in the military.
“Equality is the prime rib of America,” she said, urging Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe to share “the greatest cut of meat that my country has to offer” with Gays and Lesbians in the military.
To keep DADT, simply put, is keeping segregation alive. President Obama should have enacted a stop-loss order so that the military would not lose qualified, intelligent men and women who want to serve our country. Erasing DADT would be a step in the right direction.
WHAT YOU CAN DO WHILE THERE IS STILL TIME…
Please call your senators at (202) 224-3121 and make sure they support the REPEAL of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Do it before tomorrow’s vote! Thank You
….Contingent on Pentagon Review. Since this bill to Repeal DADT is now passed, it now must go to review by the Pentagon before the repealing is implemented. So even though a ‘repeal’ has occurred in the House and the Senate, it still has a major hurdle through the Pentagon. Pentagon may be continue to ban Gays and Lesbians from serving openly.
This is good so far, but we still need a concrete positive conclusion post Pentagon review!
President Barack Obama was speaking at a fundraiser for Senator Barbara Boxer of California. During his speech, several DADT protesters interrupted by shouting “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. This interruption lead to him to confront those protesters and reaffirm that DADT will be repealed and also acknowledged that Senator Boxer was NOT in favor of DADT and did NOT vote for it when it was passed in 1993. Watch the clip and tell us your thoughts…
The Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, stated that today they will begin to ease the prohibitions of homosexuals serving in the military. Going forward, according to CNN, bulleted below is how things will operate.
To us, it seems that homosexuals still cannot serve openly, and there is just no low-ranking ‘tattling’ allowed to ‘out’ homosexual soldiers. The military needs to do a better job at getting this together. There shouldn’t be a high-ranking person investigating a soldier suspect of being Gay/Lesbian. With the beginning process of repealing DADT, all investigations of Gay or Lesbian soldiers should be IRRELEVANT. Again, regardless of sexuality, soldiers should be allowed to serve as who they are openly 100%.
Here’s their process:
The Pentagon will raise the level of the officer authorized to start a fact-finding inquiry or separation proceeding as a result of alleged homosexual conduct to a general or flag officer in the accused service member’s chain of command.
Only a lieutenant colonel, Navy commander or higher ranking officer will be authorized to conduct a fact-finding inquiry.
Only a general or flag officer in an accused service member’s chain of command will be authorized to initiate expulsion proceedings.
The Pentagon will revise what constitutes credible information to begin an inquiry or separation proceeding. For example, Gates, said, the Defense Department will specify that information given by third parties should be given under oath. The use of “overheard statements” and “hearsay” will be discouraged.
The Pentagon will revise what constitutes a “reliable person” upon which an inquiry can be initiated. According to Gates, “special scrutiny” will be given to “third parties who may be motivated to harm a service member.”
Certain categories of confidential information will no longer be used in discharge proceedings, including information provided to lawyers, clergy and psychotherapists. Information provided to a doctor as part of a service member’s medical treatment or to a medical official in the course of a public health inquiry also will not be used in discharge proceedings. Information given for either a security clearance investigation or in the course of seeking professional assistance for domestic or physical abuse also will be excluded.
“My opinion is everyone should be allowed to serve, as long as we’re able to fight our wars and we’re able to have forces that are capable of doing whatever they are asked to do,”
This was stated by Gen. Ray Odierno when he was questioned about if Gays should be allowed to openly serve in the military
We call on the Obama Administration to get this done ASAP! Allow Gays and Lesbians to serve openly as who they are. If the U.S. continues to ban Gays and Lesbians from serving openly, then we are subjecting more unknown soldiers to multiple battlegrounds to represent a country that only partially recognizes them.
In a study done by the Quinnipiac University, here are the following stats of current thoughts of DADT:
About 2/3 of voters of the U.S. believe that allowing Gays and Lesbians to openly serve will NOT affect the military.
65% said ending DADT, would NOT impede on military effectiveness. 30% Disagreed.
57% of military families see NO negative effect to ending DADT. 38% Disagreed.
57% of overall voters want to end DADT. 36% want to keep DADT
66% of voters said DADT is discriminatory. 31% Disagreed
82% of voters want to end disciplinary actions against Gay & Lesbian soldiers. 10% Disagreed.
This survey is based on 2,617 U.S. registered voters who took the survey between the dates of Feb 2-8 after President Obama’s State of the Union where he stated to repeal DADT.
Lt. Choi sent photographs to Bilerico.com to let people know that he was called back into service. He looks very happy to be in training. Since he is very committed to our country and our community, we knew there had to be reason for Choi not making his appearance at the Creating Change Conference. According to Choi, his commanding officer highly supports him even after he came out. This is a great thing! The wall of DADT discrimination is gaining some cracks and soon we will see it crumble down and just be part of our American history. Keep fighting Lt. Choi, and please be safe.
If WAC Sergeant Phelps was here, she would have plenty to say in regards to DADT. In fact, she already did to General Eisenhower during World War II.
When rumors surfaced of Lesbians serving in her battalion, Eisenhower summoned Phelps to create a list of the Lesbians in her battalion so that they be discharged. Phelps had this amazing, brave response:
“Yes, sir,”…but that wasn’t all she said.
Phelps reminded Eisenhower that the WAC battalion at his headquarters was one of the most decorated in the Army. It performed superbly, had the fewest unauthorized absences, the least number of venereal-disease cases, and the most infrequent number of pregnancies of any WAC group anywhere. Getting rid of the lesbians would mean losing competent file clerks, typists, and a large share of the headquarters’ key personnel. “I’ll make your list, but you’ve got to know that when you get the list back, my name’s going to be first.”
According to Phelps, Eisenhower said “forget the order”.
We respect the President ordering the repeal of DADT, but hearings and meetings need to be cut and find the safest, practical, and fastest way to let the Lesbian and Gay soldiers who want to serve back out onto the field. Its about equality and letting the rest of the country know that Lesbian and Gay soldiers are fighting for the same country they love.
Today, the winds of change could come for a our soldiers. Seventeen years ago, President Clinton enacted the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy which put into law that no soldier could serve openly as a Gay man or woman. The senate has the power to vote to repeal and that vote is today.
The Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, stated that today they will begin to ease the prohibitions of homosexuals serving in the military. Going forward, according to CNN, bulleted below is how things will operate.
“My opinion is everyone should be allowed to serve, as long as we’re able to fight our wars and we’re able to have forces that are capable of doing whatever they are asked to do,”
….and that’s a good thing!
If WAC Sergeant Phelps was here, she would have plenty to say in regards to DADT. In fact, she already did to General Eisenhower during World War II.
