{"id":577551,"date":"2010-05-25T06:00:49","date_gmt":"2010-05-25T10:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/?p=85605"},"modified":"2010-05-25T06:00:49","modified_gmt":"2010-05-25T10:00:49","slug":"is-%e2%80%98don%e2%80%99t-ask-don%e2%80%99t-tell%e2%80%99-on-the-scrapheap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/577551","title":{"rendered":"Is \u2018Don\u2019t Ask, Don\u2019t Tell\u2019 on the Scrapheap?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_85606\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 490px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/lieberman.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-85606\" title=\"lieberman\" src=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/lieberman-480x319.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"319\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sen. Joe Lieberman plans to introduce an amendment Wednesday to repeal &quot;Don&#39;t Ask, Don&#39;t Tell.&quot; (Pete Marovich\/ZUMA Press)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Less than a month after the Pentagon leadership warned it would unwise  to abandon the military&#8217;s ban on open gay service this year, a  fast-moving legislative effort this week has opponents of &#8220;Don&#8217;t Ask,  Don&#8217;t Tell&#8221; feeling like the law might finally be on the scrapheap.<\/p>\n<p><div id=\"attachment_2848\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"width: 140px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2848\" title=\"nationalsecurity\" src=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/nationalsecurity.jpg\" alt=\"Image by: Matt Mahurin\" width=\"130\" height=\"130\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image by: Matt Mahurin<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"floatButtons\">\n<div style=\"float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/digg.com\/tools\/diggthis.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div style=\"float: left; margin-bottom: 10px;\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\"\n\tsrc=\"http:\/\/d.yimg.com\/ds\/badge2.js\"\n\tbadgetype=\"square\">\n\t<?php the_permalink(); ?><\/script><\/div>\n<div style=\"float: left; margin-right: 10px;\">\n\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\ntweetmeme_source = \"TWI_news\";\ntweetmeme_service = \"bit.ly\";\n<\/script> <script src=\"http:\/\/tweetmeme.com\/i\/scripts\/button.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"float: left;\"><a name=\"fb_share\" type=\"box_count\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php\">Share<\/a><script src=\"http:\/\/static.ak.fbcdn.net\/connect.php\/js\/FB.Share\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> Activists  opposed to the law met Monday morning with White House officials ahead  of a dual-tracked strategy in Congress to insert a formal repeal of the  17-year old law in next year&#8217;s defense funding bill. On Wednesday, <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/85537\/virginia-military-women-to-sen-webb-repeal-dont-ask-dont-tell\">the  Senate Armed Services Committee will mark up the 2011 Defense  Authorization<\/a>, and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) plans to introduce  an amendment repealing &#8220;Don&#8217;t Ask, Don&#8217;t Tell.&#8221; He&#8217;ll be followed by  Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.), an Iraq war veteran, who <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/85564\/dont-ask-dont-tell-opponents-plan-to-take-the-hill-this-week\">said  Monday he would introduce a complementary amendment into the House&#8217;s  version of the bill<\/a> when it receives a full floor debate later this  week. If passed, it would allow the Pentagon a few months&#8217; worth of a  grace period so an internal review due in December can guide how the  implement overturning the ban.<\/p>\n<p>By Monday evening, activists were  announcing what the Human Rights Campaign&#8217;s president, Joe Solomonese,  said in an official statement was the &#8220;brink of historic&#8221; action to get  rid of &#8220;Don&#8217;t Ask, Don&#8217;t Tell.&#8221; While legislative language was not  available by press time, several prominent activists cheered the White  House for clearing the way for what Aubrey Sarvis, an Army veteran and  one of the activists who took part in the White House meeting, called &#8220;a  dramatic breakthrough in dismantling \u2018Don\u2019t Ask, Don\u2019t Tell.&#8217;&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Peter  Orszag, the White House budget director, wrote to Murphy late Monday to  say the administration &#8220;supports the proposed amendment&#8221; on repeal,  given that it recognizes the &#8220;critical need&#8221; for uniformed input to  guide how repeal will work in practice. Orszag&#8217;s letter did not argue  any need for repeal, and reiterated that the administration&#8217;s first  choice would have delayed getting rid of &#8220;Don&#8217;t Ask, Don&#8217;t Tell&#8221; until  at least 2011.<\/p>\n<p>The contours of a potential deal paving the  way for a legislative repeal this week were first floated by retired  Army Gen. John Shalikashvili in the Washington Post on Saturday. Defense  Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the  Joint Chiefs of Staff <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/75542\/mullen-and-gates-forcefully-back-repeal-of-militarys-gay-ban\">who  expressed his opposition to the law in February<\/a>, dismayed activists  by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2010\/04\/30\/dont-ask-dont-tell-repeal_0_n_559174.html\">urging  congressional leaders in April<\/a> to delay any legislative remedies  for &#8220;Don&#8217;t Ask, Don&#8217;t Tell&#8221; until a Pentagon working group surveying  military attitudes about how to implement any repeal delivers its final  report in December.<\/p>\n<p>Shalikashvili, himself a former chairman of  the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the dawn of &#8220;Don&#8217;t Ask, Don&#8217;t Tell,&#8221;  proposed cutting the legislative and bureaucratic Gordian Knot.  &#8220;Congress could repeal the federal statute and return authority to the  military to set rules about gay troops, just as the armed services had  before &#8216;don&#8217;t ask, don&#8217;t tell&#8217; became law in 1993,&#8221; he <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2010\/05\/21\/AR2010052103224.html\">wrote<\/a>.  &#8220;Indeed, acting now to remove the constraints imposed by that law is  the most faithful response that Congress can offer to the working  group&#8217;s efforts to engage service members and their families.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>That  appeared to offer all sides a way out of the impasse. President Obama  will get to keep the promise he made to the LGBT community in his State  of the Union address for a 2010 repeal, and the Pentagon will ensure  that the recommendations of the working group, led by Army Gen. Carter  Ham and top Pentagon lawyer Jeh Johnson, form the basis of a post-&#8221;Don&#8217;t  Ask, Don&#8217;t Tell&#8221; future. Michael Cole, a spokesman for the anti-&#8221;Don&#8217;t  Ask, Don&#8217;t Tell&#8221; Human Rights Campaign, portrayed a legislative repeal  this week as a necessary prerequisite to implementing the working  group&#8217;s findings. &#8220;If the law is not repealed this year, when the  implementation study comes down, [the Pentagon will] not able to carry  it out,&#8221; Cole said.<\/p>\n<p>In their April letter to Congress, Gates and  Mullen warned that a legislative fix ahead of Johnson and Ham&#8217;s working  group report would &#8220;send a very damaging message to our men and women in  uniform that in essence their views, concerns and perspectives do not  matter.&#8221; But chief Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell sounded more open to  congressional action on Monday, however reluctantly. &#8220;Given that  Congress insists on addressing this issue this week, we are trying to  gain a better understanding of the legislative proposals they will be  considering,&#8221; Morrell said in an e-mail.<\/p>\n<p>Activists are  seeking to ensure they don&#8217;t waste their congressional opportunity. The  Human Rights Campaign is spending millions this week to pressure six  senators on the Armed Services Committee who haven&#8217;t taken a firm  position on repeal but the group believes are persuadable: Robert Byrd  (D-W.V.), Jim Webb (D-Va.), Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.),  Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and Scott Brown (R-Mass.). Field staff in the states  of all six senators are calling the legislators&#8217; district offices,  mailing thousands of postcards and scheduling rallies with anti-&#8221;Don&#8217;t  Ask, Don&#8217;t Tell&#8221; servicemembers and veterans demanding an end to the  law.<\/p>\n<p>Cole said he anticipated close votes in both the Senate  committee and the House floor. But he vowed Human Rights Campaign would  &#8220;keep up the pressure and remind wavering members that 75 percent of  the American people support repealing &#8216;Don&#8217;t Ask, Don&#8217;t Tell&#8217; and this  is an issue to strengthen our military and respect LGBT troops at the  same time.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sen. Joe Lieberman plans to introduce an amendment Wednesday to repeal &quot;Don&#39;t Ask, Don&#39;t Tell.&quot; (Pete Marovich\/ZUMA Press) Less than a month after the Pentagon leadership warned it would unwise to abandon the military&#8217;s ban on open gay service this year, a fast-moving legislative effort this week has opponents of &#8220;Don&#8217;t Ask, Don&#8217;t Tell&#8221; feeling [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4314,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-577551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4314"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577551\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}