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Written by Lisa Neff, Staff writer
Jun 3, 2010
Former Vt. Gov. Howard Dean, working with the Courage Campaign, delivered Congress a letter signed by more than 100,000 Americans calling for the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” – Photo: Courtesy
U.S. Sen. Carl Levin chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee. – Photo: Courtesy
“Don’t ask, don’t tell” was born of a compromise.
And, in late May, with Memorial Day near, another compromise developed, one that might overturn the Clinton-era ban against openly lesbian and gay servicemembers this year.
On May 28, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act with an amendment providing for the repeal of DADT.
The day before, the House had approved the amendment by a vote of 234-194.
Meanwhile, that same day, the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee voted 16-12 to amend its defense spending bill to include a provision to repeal the policy.
But taps hasn’t yet sounded for DADT.
The full Senate still must consider the defense bill, and U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has vowed a filibuster. The former presidential candidate was once believed to be a proponent of DADT’s repeal, but McCain is now in a serious primary fight in his 2010 re-election campaign.
McCain, a Vietnam veteran, now maintains repeal would be harmful for military morale and effectiveness.
The compromise
The key votes on the House floor and on the Senate panel were the result of a compromise brokered earlier in the week during meetings with Democratic lawmakers, Pentagon officials, White House staff and representatives from major LGBT groups.
The compromise provided for congressional lawmakers to move forward with repealing DADT, but delay implementation until after Dec. 1, when the Defense Department is set to complete a study on repeal.
“Don’t ask, don’t tell” was enacted in 1993 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. It was the result of a compromise between the Clinton administration, which had set out to lift a blanket ban against gays in the military, and the GOP-dominated Congress, which wanted to maintain the ban.
Over the past 17 years, an estimated 14,000 servicemembers have been discharged under the policy, and many others voluntarily terminated their careers in the Armed Forces, the nation’s largest employer. Estimates put the number of active-duty LGB servicemembers at 66,000.
Promise and policy review
In two sentences in his State of the Union Address in January, President Barack Obama pledged: “This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are. It’s the right thing to do.”
The president’s promise quickly won the support of top officials in the Pentagon, including Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates. But the prospect of repealing DADT this year dimmed in early May, when a memo from Gates to lawmakers urged Congress to hold off on votes until the Defense Department completed its review of the policy and how to implement a repeal. That review is to be completed Dec. 1. Inaction on Capitol Hill probably would have pushed a vote into 2011 – after the swearing in of a new Congress.
Then, on May 23, lawmakers announced the compromise, which Aubrey Sarvis, a veteran and the director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network called a “dramatic breakthrough on dismantling ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’”
Breakthrough week
The historic week began with a May 24 letter from U.S. Sens. Joe Lieberman and Carl Levin and U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy to Obama stating, “It is our firm belief that it is time to repeal this discriminatory policy that not only dishonors those who are willing to give their lives in service to their country but also prevents capable men and women with vital skills from serving in the Armed Forces at a time when our nation is fighting two wars.”
The Democratic lawmakers proposed the amendment to put a process in place to repeal DADT but allow the Defense Department to complete its study and “certify that repeal can be achieved consistent with the military’s standards of readiness, effectiveness, unit cohesion and recruiting and retention.”
Later that day, the lawmakers had their go-ahead response from the White House. Peter R. Orszag, director of the office of management and budget, wrote, “The administration understands that Congress has chosen to move forward with legislation now and seeks the Administration’s views on the proposed amendment. Accordingly, the administration is of the view that the proposed amendment meets the concerns raised by the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. … The administration … therefore supports the proposed amendment.”
After learning of the compromise deal, LGBT groups – SLDN, Servicemembers United and the Human Rights Campaign – called on members to contact their lawmakers to urge their support for the amendment.
State organizations also dispatched alerts.
“This is an all-hands-on-deck moment,” announced an action alert from the California-based Courage Campaign, which also helped former Gov. Howard Dean collect more than 100,000 signatures on a petition for repeal.
Feeling confident about a vote in the House, activists focused on the Senate committee, specifically members Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Evan Bayh of Indiana, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, Jim Webb of Virginia, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Bill Nelson of Florida.
The Senate committee vote came first on May 27.
“Just after the vote, I gave Sen. Joseph Lieberman and his legislative team all big hugs, and then we had a drink, saluting the LGBT servicemembers who were honored by that SASC vote,” Sarvis said.
Hours later, the House, which had devoted much of the day and much of the night to debating amendments to the defense bill, voted 234-194 to repeal DADT. The full vote to pass the $700 billion spending bill came May 28.
“I know that our military draws its strength on the integrity of our unified force, and current law challenges this integrity by creating two realities within the ranks,” said U.S. Rep. Susan Davis, D-Calif., who voted for repeal.
Murphy, D-Pa., the chief sponsor of the amendment in the House and an Iraq War veteran, told colleagues that in Iraq servicemembers “did not care whether a fellow soldier was straight or gay if they could fire their assault rifle or run a convoy down ambush alley and do their job so everyone would come home safely.”
Going into Memorial Day weekend with the votes to celebrate, Joe Solmonese of the Human Rights Campaign said, “This is the beginning of the end of a shameful ban on open service by lesbian and gay troops.” DADT is 17 years old, but the gays-in-the-military issue is an old one. George Washington discharged a soldier for homosexual acts in 1778.
Summer skirmish
Action in the full Senate may come as early as this month but more likely early this fall, coinciding with a stepping up of mid-term election campaigns.
While LGBT activists launched an all-out war on the policy last week, urging constituents in key districts to press representatives to vote for repeal, anti-gay forces also went to battle.
“Allowing open homosexuals to serve in the military will decimate military morale and unit cohesion, introduce sexual tensions into same-gender accommodations and damage rather than enhance military readiness,” claimed Tim Wildmon of the American Family Association.
Wildmon accused Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of “using arm-twisting and backdoor deals … to force open their laboratory for trendy experiments in the social engineering of our military.”
Both sides have vowed summer assaults.
“Final victory is no sure thing,” said Solmonese. “And we must continue to be vigilant.”
“We still need to urge every U.S. senator to get DADT repeal done in 2010,” Sarvis said.
In the meantime, Sarvis warned, “All gay and lesbian active-duty service members – including those in the reserves and the National Guard – can still be fired under DADT.”
