US Troops are Ready for Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal

When Adm. Mike Mullen appeared with Defense Secretary Robert Gates before the Senate Armed Services Committee two weeks ago to announce a year-long study on the affects of repealing the ban on openly gay service members, one of the major concerns voiced by opponents was the impact on troop morale, and preparedness.

During a trip to Jordan this week, Mullen engaged in a question and answer period with troops based in Amman and noticed toward the end of the session that no one had asked him anything about repealing "Don't ask, Don't tell". So he asked.

McClatchey news reports:

Navy Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was nearing the end of a 25-minute question and answer session with troops serving here when he raised a topic of his own: "No one's asked me about 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,'" he said.

As it turned out, none of the two dozen or so men or women who met with Mullen at Marine House in the Jordanian capital Tuesday had any questions on the 17-year-old policy that bars gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military — or Mullen's public advocacy of its repeal.

Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Darryl E. Robinson, who's the operations coordinator for defense attache's office at the U.S. Embassy here, explained why after the session. "The U.S. military was always at the forefront of social change," he said. "We didn't wait for laws to change."

After Tuesday's question-and-answer session, Mullen told McClatchy that although he's held three town hall sessions with troops since his testimony, not a single service member has asked him about the issue.

At Tuesday's session, which included not only Marines, but members of the Army and the Air Force, both male and female service members explained why they were nonplussed by the issue: They'd already served with gays and lesbians, they accepted that some kind of change was imminent, and, they said, the nation was too engulfed in two wars for a prolonged debate about it.

That there's been so little reaction raises questions about how much study the issue needs and whether the Pentagon study is meant to pacify its concerns — or Congress'.

Read the full story here.

Here is how you you can have an impact on the efforts to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. 

This Thursday, as the Senate Armed Services Committee meets again to hear testimony on repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell, it is vital that citizens flood the Senate with phone calls demanding the law be repealed NOW!

Capitol Hill Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
Senate Contact List: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Facebook activists Phil Attey, Meghan Stabler, David da Silva Cornell, Lisa Equality Talmadge, Aaron E. Baldwin, Ian Jopson, Justin Elzie, Bo Dixon and Roanoke Equality's Frank House and Steve Publicover ask for your help in harnessing the power of Facebook and unleashing it on the Senate.

Our organizations and our lobbyists aren't strong enough to make this happen without constituent pressure, and there is no greater way to build that pressure than through each of our individual social networks on Facebook.

Tips on Calling Your Senators:

1. Only call YOUR Senators! (Members of Congress don't count "outside callers")
2. Residents of the District of Columbia please make your calls to Senators Reid & Levin
3. Get them to answer: Does the Senator support the repeal?
4. Ask to be put on a special email list to be informed on the Senator's efforts to repeal DADT.
5. Ask to meet with the Senator the next time they're back in your district.
6. Be RESPECTFUL and RELENTLESS

Help Spread The Word:

1. Invite your friends to this Facebook event.
2. Use the "share" feature to post the event on your profile.
3. Use your status update to urge friends to call their Senators
Sample status update:
"urges my friends on Thurs - Feb. 11 to call your Senators (202) 224-3121 and demand they repeal DADT now!
4. On Twitter, tweet the following:
Join the call to repeal #DADT on #Facebook | http://bit.ly/9SC0LQ | #cc10 #lgbt #gay #equality #p2 #topprog

In addition to calling your senators, we encourage you to plug into these organized efforts to pressure Congress to repeal DADT:

Act On Principles Citizen Whip Count Effort
http://actonprinciples.org
Register and report the outcome of your calls on the ActOnPrinciples website so that we can keep a citizen whip count in the House and Senate.

Voices of Honor Campaign
http://www.hrc.org/sites/voicesofhonor
HRC and Servicemembers United have teamed up to channel email into Congress and organize lobby visits, both in your home district and on Capitol Hill.

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
http://www.sldn.org/action
SLDN is mobilizing people to lobby your Members of Congress and write letters to the editor in your local newspapers.

The Courage Campaign's Don't Wait Campaign
http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/s/DontWait
The Courage Campaign is mobilizing messages directly to Senator Levin, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee

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• Mullen: Troops Express Little Opposition To 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Repeal (huffingtonpost.com)
• Reconsider 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' Cheney Says (blogs.abcnews.com)
• Mullen: Military Ban on Gays Should Be Lifted (cbsnews.com)
• 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Military Gay Ban Up for Review (time.com)
• Majority supports gays in U.S. military: poll (nationalpost.com)

Cheney sort of backs "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal (video)

Former V.P. Dick Cheney appeared on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday where he was asked if he was in favor of repealing "Don't ask, Don't tell" (DADT). Cheney's response was a very carefully worded recognition that times have changed and that, based on Adm. Mike Mullen's statements to the Senate Armed Services Committee, repeal seems likely and that it's time to "reconsider the policy".
Yesterday the queer-o-sphere was all over this story with headlines like these: "Cheney Endorses Repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (LezGetReal), "Dick Cheney Supports "Don't ask, Don't Tell Repeal (The Huffington Post).

Well, folks, Cheney didn't quite "endorse", "support" or "push for" lifting the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the armed forces. He simply acknowledged the times have changed in the 17 years since the policy went into affect and that maybe it's time to take another look at it.

Yesterday, after reading what a major breakthrough this is for LGBT rights, I posted a status update on FaceBook saying, "It's great that Cheney came out in favor of repealing DADT this morning, but the guy is no longer in a position to do anything about it. He's yesterday's news. He's not running for anything. He has no influence. Nobody cares." 


I was challenged on my position by a gay conservative friend who argued that Dick Cheney still has a lot of influence in the GOP and conservatives still listen to him. I pointed out that the GOP had rejected Bush/Cheney in the lead up to the '08 election and had distanced themselves from the failed policies they had fully supported for seven years. I enjoy these kinds of debates, because I think it's good to hear both sides

While Cheney's words may be the closest we get to anything pro-gay on the subject, let's keep in mind that this is the same guy that threw his own lesbian daughter under the right wing bus in '06 when the Neo-Cons were pushing for an amendment to the US Constitution banning same-sex marriage. While he did say that he thought the government shouldn't get in the way if two people wanted to get married, he never lifted a finger to stop the Marriage Amendment effort, that was nothing more than a twisted "get out the vote" exercise using homophobia as motivation.

The fact is that Cheney's subdued endorsement for ending DADT carries no weight in the obstructionist GOP. These guys follow their party's leading grumpy old men, Senator John McCain and House Minority Leader, John  Bhoener, who have both said that the current policy is working just fine. The Republican Party's need to block any Democratic proposal is stronger than any impulse they may have to do the right thing, even if Cheney's words made a difference. I'm sorry guys, but this story is a non-story.

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• Cheney Endorses Repeal Of Don't Ask-Don't Tell (lezgetreal.com)
• Cheney endorses effort to repeal DADT: 'It strikes me that it's time to reconsider the policy.' (thinkprogress.org)
• Dick Cheney Supports 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Repeal (huffingtonpost.com)
• Reconsider 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' Cheney Says (blogs.abcnews.com)