Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Reid Commits to DADT Vote - Should We Believe It?

Candidly, I am to the point of not believing anything coming out of the White House and senior Congressional Democrats on LGBT issues - we in the LGBT community have been lied to simply too often to take any statements as truthful until the promised action actually occurs. Thus, while I applaud Harry Reid's supposed commitment to bring DADT repeal to a vote in the Senate before the end of the current session, I will believe it when I see it happen. I'd be even more pleased to see the Liar-in-Chief actually get off his ass and do some advocacy and arm twisting to get a vote and to block any filibuster attempt by John McSenile. The latest CNN poll (see page 4) reveals that 72% of Americans support repeal, so once again, I do not understand why the Democrats lack the balls to go all out for repeal. It ought to be a no brainer. Given these numbers ONLY the craziest of the GOP base oppose repeal. Here are highlights from The Advocate:
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Representatives for Democratic majority leader Harry Reid and top White House officials committed to bringing “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal to a vote as part of the National Defense Authorization Act before the end of the year at a meeting Wednesday evening with stakeholder groups.
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“The officials told the groups that Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Obama are committed to moving forward on repeal by bringing the National Defense Authorization Act — the bill to which 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell' repeal is attached
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Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he had asked the majority leader to take up the bill after the Pentagon issues its report and following hearings he plans to hold on the matter, “which should take place during the first few days of December.”
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“The question is whether it is done by legislation that allows us to do it in a thoughtful and careful way, or whether it is struck down by the courts. Because recent court decisions are certainly pointing in that direction,” Gates told ABC.

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