Monday, November 22, 2010

'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Report to be Released One Day Earlier

The DADT repeal saga continues to be a circus and candidly I don't know what to expect. Numerous polls show that the vast majority of Americans support repeal, yet our spineless elected members of Congress continue to act as if repeal is radioactive. Indeed, you'd think the polls supported Family Research Council's anti-gay jihad rather than vice versa. I truly don't get what so frightens our members of Congress who seem to be made out of Jell-o. Defense Secretary Gates - who I do not trust whatsoever - has announced that the much awaited report on DADT repeal will be released on November 30th, one day prior to the original release date. Needless to say, DADT repeal would be huge in the Hampton Roads area where there are literally thousands of LGBT members of the military who deserve to be able to serve their country without the constant fear of being outed through some witch hunt. The other huge benefit of repeal id that it would take away one of the Christianists tools in arguing that even the government sees gays as inferior citizens. Here are highlights from the Washington Post on the release of the report:
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[T]he Defense Department said Sunday that it will release a long-awaited report on the matter earlier than planned because senators are eager to vote on whether to repeal the policy.
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Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has ordered the report to be released on Nov. 30, one day earlier than planned, "to support Congress's wish to consider repeal before they adjourn," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Sunday. The Senate is slated to vote again on a defense policy bill that includes language that would repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy after the Thanksgiving recess.
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Gates "has instructed his staff, without cutting any corners, to have everything ready a day sooner because he wants to ensure members of the Armed Services Committee are able to read and consider the complex, lengthy report before holding hearings with its authors and the Joint Chiefs of Staff," Morrell said in a statement.
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The report is expected to conclude that the military can lift the ban on gays serving openly in uniform with only minimal and isolated incidents of risk to the current war efforts, according to sources who shared details of the report with The Washington Post.
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The report will cite a survey of active-duty and reserve troops that found that more than 70 percent of respondents said the effect of lifting the ban would be positive, mixed or nonexistent, sources said.

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