In a landmark vote for gay rights, Sen. Harry Reid and fellow Democrats in the Senate voted Saturday to let gays serve openly in the military, giving President Barack Obama the chance to fulfill a campaign promise and repeal the 17-year policy known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.” The Senate voted 63 to 33 Saturday in favor of cloture on the bill. Six Republicans voted with the Democrats: Scott Brown, Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, Lisa Murkowski, George Voinovich, and newly elected Illinois Senator Mark Kirk.
Repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” (DADT), while allegedly supported by a majority of American voters in polls, was opposed by the chiefs of the Marine Corps, Army and Air Force. And 67% of Marines in combat arms units said repeal would have a negative effect on their unit’s ability to complete their mission. One marine Lieutenant said
“My team’s effectiveness is directly tied to its cohesiveness. Despite differences, we are so close that we anticipate each other’s next move in garrison and in combat. Our ability to do our job is predicated on this kind of relationship. If you were to add any element of sexual competition, inter-unit sexuality, or hesitance in trust, it would unquestionably prevent those bonds from forming or immediately destroy them if introduced.”
Kirk said in a statement that Congress needed to act in the face of mounting court challenges. “I support the joint chiefs’ recommendation to implement the repeal of the current policy once the battle effectiveness of the forces is certified and proper preparations are complete,” Kirk wrote.
“I know he took some grief from his side of the aisle for doing it, but it showed real courage on his part,” Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin said on Sunday. “I’m glad he stepped up.”
General James F. Amos, the commandant of the Marine Corps, said last week that repeal could cost lives: “Mistakes and inattention or distractions cost Marines lives,” he said. “That’s the currency of this fight.
“I take that very, very seriously,” he added. “I don’t want to lose any Marines to the distraction. I don’t want to have any Marines that I’m visiting at Bethesda [National Naval Medical Center, in Maryland] with no legs be the result of any type of distraction.”
Now that the Senate has ignored this warning and moved ahead with repeal, the question is how implementation of repealing DADT will proceed. Obama was expected to sign it this week, although the change wouldn’t take immediate effect. The legislation says the president and his top military advisers must certify that lifting the ban won’t hurt troops’ fighting ability. After that, there’s a 60-day waiting period for the military.
Gays in America voiced approval with the vote.
There are reports that schools that currently ban ROTC from campus are moving toward ending their discriminatory practice now that Congress has repealed Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
The vote, said Columbia University President Lee Bollinger, provides “the opportunity for a new era in the relationship between universities and our military services.”
“This is an historic development for a nation dedicated to fulfilling its core principle of equal rights. It also effectively ends what has been a vexing problem for higher education, including at Columbia — given our desire to be open to our military, but not wanting to violate our own core principle against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation,” he said in a statement through a spokesman.
Harvard’s president Drew Faust said, “I look forward to pursuing discussions with military officials and others to achieve Harvard’s full and formal recognition of ROTC.” A Yale spokesman said: “”We are aware of the vote and have plans in consideration.”
Wonderful, the gay lobby is happy with the Democratic Party. But why wasn’t the military’s views taken into consideration? What was Mark Kirk thinking?
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