All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

The law that prohibits openly gay servicemen from serving in the military may be repealed as an amendment to the 2011 Defense Department budget bill, the Washington Blade reports.

The repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) rule should be a part of the defense budget, much like the recent extension of hate crimes protections for LGBT citizens, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) told the Blade. Frank is one of three openly gay members of the House.

"The House will take up and the Senate will take up 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' repeal," Frank reportedly said. "That will again, like hate crimes, even more so, will have to be done, I believe, in the context of the defense authorization. You can't do the standalone bill. It belongs in the defense authorization."

A bill has been introduced in the House to repeal the measure, and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) may introduce a similar bill in the Senate.

DADT was enacted through a defense authorization bill in 1993, the Blade points out.

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Senator Joe Lieberman, the Democrat-turned-Independent from Connecticut, appears to be taking the lead in the Senate to expand gay rights.

President Obama has been working with Lieberman to create a strategy to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that bans openly gay servicemen from the military, the Advocate reports.

"On 'don't ask, don't tell,' this administration is talking directly to the Hill -- we are in direct discussions with Senator Lieberman," John Berry, the director of the Office of Personnel Management, told the Advocate. Berry is the administration's highest-ranking, openly gay official.

On Saturday, the president restated his promise to end the ban.

A spokesman for Lieberman confirmed that the senator, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, had been speaking to the White House about the bill, the Advocate reports. The spokesman, however, gave no other information regarding the senator's plans.

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Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), at left, has announced, in a press release, that the Senate Armed Service Committee will hold a hearing this fall on the controversial "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

Signed into law by former President Clinton, the policy forbids openly gay and lesbian personnel from serving in the military. According to the press release, an estimated 13,000 service members have been removed from duty since 1993 based on their sexual orientation.

According to a report from the Center for American Progress, 265 people have been discharged since President Obama took office.

"This policy is wrong for our national security and wrong for the moral foundation upon which our country was founded,'" Gillibrand said. "'Don't ask, don't Tell' is an unfair, outdated measure that violates the civil rights of some of our bravest, most heroic men and women. By repealing this policy, we will increase America's strength - both militarily and morally."

Gillibrand also said such measures are costly, saying that it takes $95.1 million to replace gay personnel with new recruits.

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Rep. Patrick Murphy, a Pennsylvania Democrat and Iraq war veteran, today called for an end to the "discriminatory" policy known as "don't ask, don't tell" that prohibits gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military.

"The policy is not working for armed services, and it hurts our national security," Murphy (pictured at left) said at a speech at Washington's National Press Club, where he appeared with gay and straight service members supporting repeal of the policy.

The event was a kickoff to the "Voices Of Honor" national tour sponsored by gay rights groups the Human Rights Campaign and Servicemembers United that features members of the military who oppose the Clinton-era compromise that allows gays to serve only if they keep their sexuality a secret. Murphy's office also helped set up a Web site called www.letthemserve.com.

"Opponents of lifting the ban argue that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly will be detrimental to unit cohesion and morale," the congressman said. "As a former officer and West Point professor, that is an insult to me and to all of the troops serving in uniform. In Iraq, my men did not care what race, color, creed or sexual orientation their fellow paratroopers were. They cared about getting the job done. We cared about serving with honor and coming home alive." (Watch Murphy's full remarks here.)

Murphy vowed to take the lead in pushing through Congress the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which would overturn the policy. He noted that President Obama has vowed to sign the bill if it crosses his desk and said it is Congress' responsibility to make that happen.

The president has taken heat from gay rights groups for not pushing harder for the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" or the Defense Of Marriage Act, something he promised to work toward as a candidate. Gay rights groups were particularly outraged by a brief filed by the Obama Justice Department defending DOMA that compared gay marriage to marriage between family members.

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President Obama, who has come under harsh criticism from gay rights advocates for not yet acting on many campaign promises on gay issues, Monday afternoon said that his administration has made some progress on behalf of gay Americans and plans to do more.

"I know that many in this room don't believe that progress has come fast enough, and I understand that," Mr. Obama said at a reception for LGBT Pride Month at the White House. "It's not for me to tell you to be patient anymore than it was for others to counsel patience to African-Americans who were petitioning for equal rights a half-century ago."

"But I say this: We have made progress," the president continued. "And we will make more. And I want you to know that I expect and hope to be judged not by words, not by promises I've made, but by the promises that my administration keeps."

"We've been in office six months now," he said. "I suspect that by the time this administration is over, I think you guys will have pretty good feelings about the Obama administration."

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The anger from gay rights advocates toward President Obama is starting to boil over.

On Monday, Joe Solmonese, the president of the establishment gay rights group The Human Rights Campaign, sent an angry letter to the president objecting to the decision by the Obama Justice Department to file a brief defending the Defense of Marriage Act.

"I realized that although I and other LGBT leaders have introduced ourselves to you as policy makers, we clearly have not been heard, and seen, as what we also are: human beings whose lives, loves, and families are equal to yours," Solmonese wrote. "I know this because this brief would not have seen the light of day if someone in your administration who truly recognized our humanity and equality had weighed in with you."

The Clinton-era Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, mandates (1) that the federal government not recognize same-sex marriages and (2) that states not be forced to recognize same-sex marriages from other states.

Mr. Obama vowed to repeal DOMA as a presidential candidate but he has not taken any action to do so since becoming president. The Justice Department brief calls the legislation a "valid exercise of Congress' power" and says it is "reasonable and rational for Congress to maintain its longstanding policy of fostering this traditional and universally-recognized form of marriage."

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Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell today said there are no plans to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that prohibits openly gay troops from serving in the military.

President Obama vowed to repeal the controversial 1993 policy during the campaign, but according to Morrell, there have not been serious discussions between the White House and the military about doing so.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen are "aware of where the president wants to go on this issue, but I don't think that there is any sense of any immediate developments in the offing on efforts to repeal 'don't ask, don't tell,'" Morrell said.

Morrell indicated that the White House has not formally sent a request to Congress to abandon the policy. He said there have only been "initial conversations in their early stages" about the situation.

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White House spokesman Robert Gibbs today indicated that President Obama will not intervene to keep gay servicemembers from being dismissed from the military, despite his vow to end the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

Gibbs said "the policy isn’t working for our national interests," but added that ending it will "require more than the snapping of one's fingers."

"To get fundamental reform in this instance requires a legislative vehicle," Gibbs said. "The president made a promise to change this policy; he will work with the Joints Chiefs of Staff, the administration and with Congress to ensure that we have a policy that works for our national interests."

Noted a reporter at the briefing: "He is the Commander-in-Chief. I mean, if the president and the Secretary of Defense can bring about a new leadership in Afghanistan, replace the commanding general there, couldn't the president and the secretary of defense delay any more people getting fired under 'don't ask, don't tell'?"

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In spite of President Obama's declared stance against the "don't-ask-don't-tell" policy that keeps openly gay individuals out of the military, the U.S. Army on Thursday told Lt. Dan Choi he is being dismissed for publicly revealing his homosexuality.

Choi is not the first servicemember to be dismissed because of his sexuality under the Obama administration, but his dismissal stands out because of his noted skills. Choi is an infantry platoon leader in the New York National Guard who is fluent in Arabic. He graduated West Point and recently returned from Iraq.

As founding member of Knights Out, an organization for openly gay, lesbisan, bisexual, and transgender West Point alumni and their supporters, Choi advocates allowing openly gay people to serve in the military. He announced his own sexuality on MSNBC on March 19.

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Yesterday, Hotsheet told you about Rep. Ellen Tauscher’s introduction of legislation to repeal the 15-year-old “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” rule and allow gay men and women to serve openly in the military.

Tauscher introduced the legislation today. (Some media outlets are erroneously reporting that she did so Monday.)

The White House has released a statement giving some sense of where it stands on the legislation. As we noted yesterday, the president may not want a fight over the issue at a time when he has a number of other major battles going on.

“The President supports changing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” spokesman Tommy Vietor said. “As part of a long standing pledge, he has also begun consulting closely with Secretary Gates and Chairman Mullen so that this change is done in a sensible way that strengthens our armed forces and our national security.”

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