Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Gaining Traction

Matthew Green — May 27, 2010 – 8:35 am | Barack Obama | Civil Rights | Congress | Democrats | Domestic Policy Comments (0) Add a comment

On Monday, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), Senator Joseph I. Lieberman (D-CT), and Congressman Patrick Murphy (D-PA) sent a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to act immediately for a repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy.

In his State of the Union Address this year, Obama pledged that he would work with Congress and the military to repeal this discriminatory policy. Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently voiced his opposition to DADT. According to the Huffington Post,

“The nation’s top uniformed military officer told graduating Air Force Academy cadets they need to support a changing military as Congress nears a vote on repealing the military’s ban on openly gay servicemembers.”

Also this week, Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, pledged to vote for a repeal of DADT. By doing so, Nelson joined a host of others in support of a policy reversal including Senator John Kerry (D-MA), a decorated former navy officer. Even Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) has said he could be “open” to repealing the policy.

If Congress votes to repeal DADT, the US will join over thirty nations across the world - including the UK, France, and Germany - in banning military discrimination based on sexual discrimination. Israel voted to prohibit such discrimination in 1993 - the same year the current policy was enacted in the US. Today, seventeen years later, sexuality is a “non-issue” for Israeli soldiers.

In an article for Foreign Policy, Danny Kaplan suggests that including gay soldiers may even have beneficial results as well:

“The United States and Turkey are now the only NATO military powers that do not allow gays to serve openly, but Israel and other countries have shown that the participation of gay soldiers in combat units presents no risk for military effectiveness. What’s more, acknowledging their presence might even improve unit cohesion.”

According to JTA, a bloc of ten Jewish organizations headed by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs sent a letter to Congress on Tuesday, saying:

“We believe this policy is unjust and [has] become an anomaly among western nations. Advanced militaries throughout the world, including many of our NATO allies and Israel, allow gay, lesbian and bisexual personnel to serve openly. It is time for the United State to repeal the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ [policy] and we encourage you and [your] colleagues to act swiftly.”

The letter was signed by the American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, Anti-Defamation League, B’nai B’rith International, Jewish Labor Committee, Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, National Council of Jewish Women, Union for Reform Judaism and United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

 

 

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