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04-27-09
Posted April 27th, 2009 by Leo Shane in Stripes Central
Tomorrow the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network will run an ad in the D.C. newspaper Roll Call calling for President Obama to put a repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law into his 2010 defense budget, saying if he doesn't he'll soon share in the blame for discrimination against homosexuals.
In an open letter SLDN executive director Aubrey Sarvis compares candidate Obama's stance against the law with President Obama's silence on the matter.
"Your Defense Secretary said [twice recently], ‘If we do it,' meaning if the law is repealed. Mr. President, we thought we were talking about how and when to do this, not if," he writes. "You are about to submit your administration's defense budget to Congress. This is the logical place to kill ‘don't ask, don't tell.' If you don't, you will soon be approving the firing of men and women for being gay. That infamous law will become your infamous law, your albatross."
The ads will also run online at the Huffington Post and as part of a petition on the SLDN website. The group was founded in opposition to the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law and has been even more vocal in recent months since Obama was elected.
But supporters of the ban have as well. Earlier this month a group of 1,000-plus flag and general officers offered support for keeping homosexuals out of the ranks, and the conservative Center for Military Readiness has jumped on Defense Secretary Gates' quotes about rushing into a change too quickly.
SLDN officials said they hope the ad will force the issue into the forefront once again, making the White House deal with it whether they want to or not. Adn if it doesn't, they said, they're no further away from getting rid of the rule then they are right now.
Stripes Central: SLDN: End “Mixed Signals” on Gays in the Ranks
Posted April 27th, 2009 by Leo Shane in Stripes Central
Tomorrow the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network will run an ad in the D.C. newspaper Roll Call calling for President Obama to put a repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law into his 2010 defense budget, saying if he doesn't he'll soon share in the blame for discrimination against homosexuals.
In an open letter SLDN executive director Aubrey Sarvis compares candidate Obama's stance against the law with President Obama's silence on the matter.
"Your Defense Secretary said [twice recently], ‘If we do it,' meaning if the law is repealed. Mr. President, we thought we were talking about how and when to do this, not if," he writes. "You are about to submit your administration's defense budget to Congress. This is the logical place to kill ‘don't ask, don't tell.' If you don't, you will soon be approving the firing of men and women for being gay. That infamous law will become your infamous law, your albatross."
The ads will also run online at the Huffington Post and as part of a petition on the SLDN website. The group was founded in opposition to the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law and has been even more vocal in recent months since Obama was elected.
But supporters of the ban have as well. Earlier this month a group of 1,000-plus flag and general officers offered support for keeping homosexuals out of the ranks, and the conservative Center for Military Readiness has jumped on Defense Secretary Gates' quotes about rushing into a change too quickly.
SLDN officials said they hope the ad will force the issue into the forefront once again, making the White House deal with it whether they want to or not. Adn if it doesn't, they said, they're no further away from getting rid of the rule then they are right now.
