Don't Ask Don't Tell

The 18th Annual National Dinner – set for March 20 at the National Building Museum – will pay tribute to all LGBT veterans in a night of inspiration and remembrance. We will be highlighting the experiences of many veterans who have been impacted by “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and hitting home the message that Congress can and should be repealing the law while the Pentagon looks at how to implement open service.Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.) – the first Iraq War veteran elected to Congress – will be our keynote. Rep. Murphy has quarterbacked repeal legislation in the House, helping to add more ...

Gen. Merrill McPeak’s recent op-ed, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Change,” reminds us that even as military attitudes are changing in favor of repeal, opponents of open service just don’t get it.The premise of McPeak’s argument (“Thus the ‘don’t ask’ part of the rule actually means gays no longer have to lie’) ignores the harsh reality about what DADT is and does to our troops.When I enlisted in the Navy in 1977, I was only 22. The Navy became my life, which I loved. Throughout my time on five ships and four continents as a postal clerk, later climbing the advancement ladder to become a ...

The Arlington County Democratic Committee voted unanimously to support a resolution calling on Congress to repeal DADT in 2010. The vote was taken at our March 3rd monthly membership meeting following a panel discussion led by Congressman Moran.Obama remains hugely popular and there is a passion for DADT repeal among all Committee members – straight and gay. We know that Senators Webb and Warner are important votes – particularly as the Senate Armed Services Committee takes up the FY2011 Defense Authorization Bill and DADT repeal. The resolution specifically endorses this approach and ...

By Robert Hill, U.S. Army Lt Col (Ret.)Our Armed Forces remain the most capable in the world, of which we can be rightfully proud. However, they are already struggling to deal effectively with the pernicious challenges facing them in the 21st century. A significant contributor to this degradation in effectiveness is the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law that prohibits all service men and women from serving both fully and truthfully in our armed forces. That’s why Senator Joseph Lieberman’s bill to repeal DADT is essential to a stronger military and deserves support.Over the past century, the ...

Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.), I salute you for taking this historic step forward on behalf of patriotic lesbian and gay Americans who seek to serve our country with honor and integrity. You have my sincerest personal appreciation. Today, I stand before you with a renewed hope that I may someday return to serve my country in uniform.What does this journey to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” mean to me? My journey spans more than 19 years and I am 37 years old. In 1991, I began my 12-year career in the Army until I was outed ...

Opponents of repeal are coming out of the woodwork, according to today’s Washington Times.“The Military Culture Coalition made its debut as an alliance Feb. 18 in a joint Washington news conference to announce a campaign to retain a 1993 law that bans open homosexuals in the ranks based on combat-readiness concerns….The coalition includes conservative grass-roots organizations, such as Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, the American Conservative Union and Concerned Women for America.”The report also notes that opposition to open service is not the unifying issue it once was ...

Letter from a Mountain Soldier An infantry officer in Afghanistan explains the personal relevance of DADTSir,This is indeed revolutionary stuff. Not the deliberate reconsideration of the DADT issue, but that you're actively encouraging such an adult, open dialog.I'm one of your officers, currently deployed supporting a WIAS tasker and I look forward to my Division meeting up with me here in Afghanistan. My partner of 10 years and I have happily accepted the various assignments the Army has given me this past decade and have weathered my two 12-month-long and one 15-month-long deployments ...

Last night, Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown criticized DADT while praising the service of LGBT patriots in his country – who are allowed to serve openly:“You are the pride of our country and we thank you very much. We know this debate continues in America today. I would say to people who still favour ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’, look at our experience in Britain.”Indeed, the transition of Great Britain’s military to open service was a virtual non-event, as has been the case been in Israel, Australia and the 25 other countries that allow gays and lesbians to serve openly. So much for ...

Wednesday’s editorial in the Opelika-Auburn News in Alabama is the latest in a string of recent opinion pieces from some of the most conservative corners of the country urging DADT repeal. The paper is clear in its call for open service, noting that sexual orientation has nothing to do with completing the mission:“We never knew sexuality had anything to do with pulling a trigger or piloting an F-16. It’s time for Don’t Ask Don’t Tell to crawl beneath the rock it came from. …Sexual preference will not run the Taliban out of Kabul, nor would it save a lieutenant’s life during a firefight on ...

A CNN poll out Monday reminds us why DADT repeal is embraced by all political stripes, with broad support from Republicans (62 percent), Democrats (more than 80 percent) and Independents (63 percent). Last week a poll from the Center for American Progress registered 56 percent of voters in House and Senate battleground states backed open service. These and volumes of other polls show Congress could, without an outcry from their constituents, put DADT repeal in the FY 2011 defense authorization.