( – promoted by Colorado Pols)
Almost live from Daily Kos, where our own Sen. Mark Udall has apparently chosen to make this announcement to Democratic on-line folks…
Just minutes ago, I stood with Senators Lieberman, Levin, Gillibrand, and Burris at a press conference and announced that we would be introducing the Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2010 in the Senate to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.
In a time of two wars, any policy that leads to the discharge of talented and capable troops threatens our national security and wastes resources. That’s exactly what “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has been doing for 17 years. And that’s why, as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and original cosponsor of this bill, I’m proud to be leading the charge to finally — and fully — repeal this unfair and outmoded law.
This legislation accomplishes several key goals:
- Full repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” It will allow the Department of Defense to continue its study to determine the best way to implement the repeal, but ensures that the study remains dedicated to implementing repeal, not considering whether to repeal.
- Ends discharges for gay and lesbian servicemembers immediately. While the study period for implementation goes forward, no members of the Armed Forces will be discharged solely for their sexual orientation.
In other words, this bill ensures that we stop harming our military’s effectiveness, but still takes a reasonable approach to ensure that the repeal is done in a responsible way. […]
I’ve been critical of Sen. Udall lately for his apparent inaction on a number of items; it’s good to see him stepping up to the plate – both on health care reform and on this important change.
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This bill has been introduced in committee. It is the intention of the co-sponsors that it be included in the Defense Appropriations Bill, which is unlikely to be filibustered.
I still believe that his heart is in the right place.
I am not a single-issue voter, but equality is at the top of my personal priority list. And nobody (and I mean nobody) has a better record either publicly or behind the scenes than Mark Udall. Period.
Diana DeGette tolerates the LGBT community. Mark Udall is a champion.
I just wish he was willing to get out and face the voters.
We so enjoy teasing you about that whole coffee/lunch thing.
I’ll make sure there’s the chance again. After all, there’s his waffling over the public option. Maybe we could take up a collection to buy him a spine.
And nice to see Senator Palpatine doing something decent for a change.
May have been getting a little tired of Bennet getting all the progressive media love and attention lately? Just kidding. Although AR might not find it so funny. Good for Udall. I was happy to vote for him in 2008 and he’s been a good Senator.
As an ardent supporter of repealing DADT, but recently I heard an argument that has made me partially reconsider. It seems that the full repeal of the bill would open the door to an overall increase in intimidation as COs could now simply demand to know one’s sexual orientation and out people who didn’t want to be outed. There are legitimate reasons for someone not wanting to disclose that (uncertainty, fear, etc.). Additionally, since sodomy is still a crime in the military someone who is asked could be discharged for reasons theoretically unrelated to their confession (since they might have reasonable suspicion or something like that).
So instead, what if they just repealed the “don’t ask” portion so people could come out if they wanted to, but they would never be forced to say anything on their sexual orientation that they didn’t want to.
I’m still unsure, anyone have any thoughts?
Hence the continued need for the “study period” allowed and encouraged by the bill.
Thanks for the info, glad that’s being addressed
…just like I could ask if my soldiers engaged in oral sex, since that’s a violation of Article 125 of the UCMJ.
As a practice, I never did. Simply because we’d have to court-martial all of the sexually active members of the military. And, it’s a horribly bad thing for leadership.
Just because the regulations say you can do something, doesn’t mean you’ll do it in day-to-day operations. That doesn’t mean this Baptist Hezbollah in the Chaplain Corps might not try and make it a big deal, but it’s only harmful if they have a sympathetic commander.
Mainly because it really gets McCain’s goat now that he’s gone full death panel and anti-repeal.
Where are Bennet and Romanoff on this?
Why isn’t Bennet an original co-sponsor?
But he’s not on the Armed Services Committee, which is what this was about.
added to the hate crimes bill. He is a strong supporte of GLBTQ rights. We are fortunate in CO. All of our Democratic delegation is fully engaged and principled on the subect of equality, to my knowledge.