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Congressman Marty Meehan to Re-Introduce Legislation to Repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
WHAT: Representative Marty Meehan (D-MA), will re-introduce The Military Readiness Enhancement Act, a Congressional bill to repeal the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” ban on lesbian, gay and bisexual military personnel. Rep. Meehan’s bill, originally introduced in the 109th Congress, garnered the support of more than 120 bi-partisan lawmakers during that session.
WHO: Congressman Meehan will be joined by C. Dixon Osburn, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), as well as by BG Evelyn “Pat” Foote, USA (Ret.), a member of SLDN’s honorary board, and SLDN client and Former Marine Sergeant Brian Fricke, an openly gay veteran of the war in Iraq. Another participant will be an Iraq war veteran from Texas who lost his right leg in combat and will be coming out of the closet publicly at the press conference in his support for the repeal of the law. Other military veterans will also join Congressman Meehan as he announces re-introduction of the bill.
WHY: Since 1993, the Department of Defense has fired more than 11,000 service members under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” On average, 2 -3 people are dismissed under the law every day. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) at least 800 of those had skills deemed ‘mission-critical’ by DoD, including more than 300 linguists, of which at least 55 were proficient in Arabic.
WHEN: Wednesday, February 28, 2007 ● 2pm
WHERE: House Armed Services Committee Hearing Room 2216 ●
Rayburn House Office Building ● Washington DC
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