HuffPo: Mr. President: You’ve Earned Your Stripes, Now Let’s End the Gay Ban in 2010
Mr. President: You've Earned Your Stripes, Now Let's End the Gay Ban in 2010
HUFFINGTON POST
December 16, 2009
One would be hard pressed to figure out how the White House could credibly avoid tackling the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in its second year. Just this past October President Obama said, "I will end 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.'"
Both the White House and Congress will soon turn their attention to the crowded legislative agenda that will be facing them when they come back to Washington after the holidays. Two wars will be going on and no doubt both will take up much of the President's precious time, but now is the time for President Obama and his legislative team, huddling with House Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid, to come up with the legislative list they want to push through Congress in 2010.
Because health care and the Afghanistan war have consumed far more time this year than expected, one assumes the '10 legislative agenda will be very focused, even scaled back a bit. There are the ambitious and big ticket items - jobs, jobs, and jobs - plus financial services reform and climate change.
But there are other urgent initiatives that need to get done too, and some will not be nearly as sweeping or as tough as some in the White House may fear. On this short list should be the repeal of DADT.
In the February-March timeframe, the President will most likely send up to Capitol Hill his defense budget. (DADT was written into the defense budget 16 years ago.) What better place for the President to make good on his words to end this law than in his very own defense budget?
While the President has consistently said the right words, whether it be on the campaign trail last year, at LGBT events, or at a black-tie Washington event, he has not spoken as clearly or as forcefully on repeal to Congress and to his own senior leadership team in the Defense department.
If Secretary Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mullen are going to be tasked by the White House to do something significant on repeal, those discussions must begin in earnest - soon - or the opportunity to get rid of the gay ban next year may slip away.
It seems to me that this President has been measured, agile, thoughtful, and extraordinarily respectful of his top officials in the Department of Defense. During this first year, the Commander in Chief more than earned his stripes, whether it was Dover and the photographing of our returning dead warriors, agreeing to the Afghanistan surge, or delivering more dollars for the Pentagon. The brass pretty much got what they asked for from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Now the time has come for the President to have that very candid DADT repeal discussion with Sec. Gates and Admiral Mullen - and for them (and those who report to Gates and Mullen) to salute. It need not be a come-to-the-woodshed or quid-pro-quo discussion. (We now know that is not the Obama style.) Gates and Mullen have both pointed out that they are well aware of the President's strategic intent and objective. I suspect they both also know that full repeal is the right and best thing to do for all of our troops and for our country, and they both appreciate all too well that the President needs their help here, as well as their remarkable leadership and credibility.
It's past time for Gates and Mullen and the White House to stop circling each other in their awkward tango around "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Let's be candid. No one really expects Gates and Mullen to go first, to actually get ahead of the President on overturning DADT. The reality is the President must initiate this candid discussion and, in doing so, he will establish that the three of them are in alignment on repeal, that the time has come.
No one wants a replay of the sorry and mean-spirited discussion that took place in 1993 on this subject. Our country, including the military, has moved on and is in a far different place. Today, 26 countries allow their gay and lesbian troops to serve without discrimination, and a vast majority of Americans, including churchgoers, think the U.S. should allow that too. When President Obama and Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen say to Congress the time has come for us to join those other 26 countries in allowing open service, and say it clearly in their defense bill going up to the Hill, Congress will follow their recommendation and embrace their bold leadership, and we can finally go about burying this embarrassing chapter.
12-16-09 By Aubrey Sarvis, SLDN Executive Director |
3 Comments
Comments for this entry are closed.Navy E-6 in Maryland on December 21, 2009 at 06.47 am
It seems in this day and age, to be openly accepting of an unpopular view would be career suicide. So, what has the military become? Organizations that are “yes” men/ women without conscience for fear of reprisal is the answer. Afterall, we’re all bound by the same policy and most would hate to be percieved as a horrible “homosexual”. It strikes fear into the hearts of men that just possibly if they accepted gays that they could be bulls-eyed. Its nonsense and down right ignorant. But alas, this is the world we live in. We fight daily for our country to continue the freedoms we enjoy. But somehow, we refuse to do the same for justice and equality for all in this same Democratic Republic. I’m ashamed of the this hipocrisy and hope that the time will come that even this too will pass. Its happened many times in our countries history ranging from the treatment of women, jews to African-Americans civil rights moements. Let justice come quickly and tarry not a moment longer.
Bill on December 16, 2009 at 11.21 pm
Thanks Aubrey for your blunt article. It is amazing that senior officers whose bravery in combat is so superb can be such abject cowards when faced with the reality of a homosexual service person. For them, homophobia seems stronger than the fear of death in combat. They, mostly men, panic at the thought of a glance in a shower, or wilt at the thought of a gay woman who might be indifferent to their heroic masculinicy. It should be senior officers in DOD who are lead the charge to end DADT, but instead they cower, passively waiting for an order from a wounded President or a paralized Congress to finally direct an end to DADT. and open acceptance of a patriotic and competent minority defending a constitution with as much energy as any other group
Rich on December 16, 2009 at 08.00 pm
I expect 2010 will be more tilting at windmills on DADT repeal. This just in from our cowardly Congressional leaders:
http://www.queerty.com/if-there-isnt-a-dadt-repeal-in-2010-blame-nancy-pelosis-definition-of-controversial-20091216/
The window for repealing DADT in this Congress is closed. We now have to wait and see if we can even keep majorities in Congress after the 2010 mid-terms. And, of course, if Dems lose majorities or a significant number of seats we can expect them to be even more cowardly from that point forward.