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Written by Lisa Neff, Staff writer
Sep 22, 2010
Lady Gaga, center, and a group of gay veterans arrive at the MTV Video Music Awards in los Angeles on Sept. 12. The singer has been one of the most outspoken critics of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” posting videos denouncing the poicy on youtube and delivering an address from Portland, Maine, on Sept. 20 as the senate was preparing to vote on the policy. – AP Photo/Matt Sayles
The Senate’s most prominent war hero led the Republican campaign to block a Sept. 21 vote on lifting the policy prohibiting openly gay servicemembers in the Armed Forces.
U.S. Sen. John McCain, a prisoner of war in Vietnam, led his party in paralyzing action on a national defense authorization bill and amendments providing for the repeal of DADT and passage of the Dream Act, legislation that would create a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who arrived to the United States as children and enroll in college or join the Armed Forces.
The Senate likely won’t take up repeal of DADT until after the mid-term elections.
“Time is the enemy here,” said Aubrey Sarvis of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, an LGBT watchdog and legal rights group. “We now have no choice but to look to the lame-duck session, where we’ll have a slim shot. The Senate absolutely must schedule a vote in December, when cooler heads and common sense are more likely to prevail once mid-term elections are behind us.”
High expectations
Momentum for a Senate vote on DADT built steadily over the first half of the year. Months ago, the House voted to repeal the 17-year-old policy. The president, who began 2010 with a call for repeal, had endorsed congressional efforts to lift DADT this year. In the courts, a federal judge ruled DADT unconstitutional earlier this month. And, in the public arena, support for repeal grew to 80 percent.
So when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., scheduled a vote on the defense bill for Sept. 21, gay rights advocates were optimistic that they had the yeas for a repeal DADT and to break any filibuster.
Reid’s office put out a number of advance notices on the vote, including a message to one influential opponent of DADT – pop star Lady Gaga, who last week used the red carpet at the MTV Video Music Awards, her Facebook and Web pages and her Twitter account to rally for repeal.
A response to Gaga from Reid’s Twitter account read, “There is a vote on #DADT next week. Anyone qualified to serve this country should be allowed to do so.”
Late developments
Late last week, the majority leader decided to use an uncommon procedural privilege that would limit debate and the amendments Republicans could offer, eroding moderate support for breaking the filibuster.
By early Sept. 21, a key moderate, Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she wanted to vote to repeal DADT, but she couldn’t support Reid’s decision to limit Republican amendments to the defense bill.
Later that day, Democrats failed to get the 60 votes needed to overcome McCain’s filibuster. The tally was 56-43, with all 41 Republicans, as well as Arkansas Democrats Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, voting against moving forward.
Reid vowed an eventual vote on DADT, as well as the Dream Act. “We’re going to vote,” he said. “It’s only a question of when.”
With the disappointment in D.C., activists returned to the federal judge’s ruling against DADT in the case first brought forward six years ago by Log Cabin Republicans.
U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips ruled Sept. 9 that DADT violates the First and Fifth Amendment rights of gays and lesbians and has a “direct and deleterious effect” on the Armed Forces.
LCR executive director R. Clarke Cooper called the ruling a victory for “all American servicemembers,” while Servicemembers United’s Alexander Nicholson, a party to the case, hailed the decision as “historic.”
The Justice Department, responsible for defending congressional acts, defended DADT before Phillips. Justice, as of press time, had not indicated whether it will appeal the ruling.
Last week, with the Senate’s failure to vote on DADT, gay rights activists urged Justice to allow the ruling to stand.
“We still have a fighting chance to repeal DADT through congressional action but in the meantime, the best interests of our men and women in uniform – as well as the country – are served by doing everything we can do to get rid of this discriminatory law,” said Joe Solmonese of the Human Rights Campaign. “We expect the Justice Department to recognize the overwhelming evidence that proves DADT is unconstitutional.”
Additionally, calls for the president to issue an executive order protecting gay and lesbian servicemembers grew louder last week.
