Latest News

PRESS RELEASE: SLDN Issues National Action Alert Continuing Push for Repeal of DADT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 25, 2010
Contact: Paul DeMiglio
(202) 621-5408 or pdemiglio@sldn.org

SLDN Issues National Action Alert Continuing Push for Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
Critical votes in Senate Armed Services Committee and on the House floor days away

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), a national, legal services and policy organization dedicated to ending "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT), issued a national action alert today to members and supporters urging them to contact key Senators on the Armed Services Committee. Advocates have been working to muster the 15 critical votes needed to include DADT repeal as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011. A similar alert was also sent in support of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to hold a floor vote on repeal this week.

“With critical votes in the Senate Armed Services Committee and the House floor in the next 24-72 hours, we need to keep working to reach a winning vote,” said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. “Monday’s announcement was a step forward crafted by the President, Department of Defense officials, and repeal leaders on Capitol Hill with respect to the ongoing work by the Pentagon on how to implement open service and allows for a vote this week. Everyone in support of repeal needs to continue contacting their Members of Congress and ask for the vote.”

SLDN has been urging the President and Congress to voice support the legislative repeal of DADT this year. SLDN has been posting a daily letter to the President from a person impacted by DADT. “Stories from the Frontlines: Letters to President Barack Obama” underscores the urgent need for congressional action and presidential leadership at this critical point in the fight to repeal DADT. More than 50 blogs and websites are currently highlighting the letters. You can read each letter by visiting: www.sldn.org/letters.

To view the action alert visit: http://bit.ly/aytHP2

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (www.sldn.org/) is a national, non-profit legal services and policy organization dedicated to ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” A journalists’ guide is available here.

Click here to read the original article.