Victory! Senate Repeals ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’, Despite 31
Republican
No Votes and John McCain's Fillibuster Attempt. This is a long
overdue
victory for Civil Rights equality. Repeal of DOMA and Passige of
ENDA
and UAFA, and introduction of The American Equality Bill for Civil
Rights are next.
Senate Repeals ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
Drew Angerer/The New York Times
Senator Joseph I. Lieberman gave the thumbs up as Majority Leader
Harry Reid spoke at a press conference after the “don’t ask, don’t
tell” vote.
By CARL HULSE
nk WASHINGTON — The Senate on Saturday voted to strike down the
ban
on
gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military, bringing to a
close a 17-year struggle over a policy that forced thousands of
Americans from the ranks and caused others to keep secret their
sexual
orientation.
Clockwise from left, Senators Mark Udall, Joseph I. Lieberman,
Susan
Collins and Kirsten Gillibrand after a news conference on the
repeal
of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
By a vote of 65 to 31, with eight Republicans joining Democrats,
the
Senate approved and sent to President Obama a repeal of the
Clinton-era law, known as “don’t ask, don’t tell,” a policy
critics
said amounted to government-sanctioned discrimination that treated
gay, lesbian and bisexual troops as second-class citizens.
Mr. Obama hailed the action, which fulfills his pledge to reverse
the
ban, and said it was “time to close this chapter in our history.”
“As commander in chief, I am also absolutely convinced that making
this change will only underscore the professionalism of our troops
as
the best-led and best-trained fighting force the world has ever
known,” he said in a statement after the Senate, on a preliminary
63-to-33 vote, beat back Republican efforts to block final action
on
the repeal bill.
The vote marked a historic moment that some equated with the end
of
racial segregation in the military.
It followed an exhaustive Pentagon review that determined the
policy
could be changed with only isolated disruptions to unit cohesion
and
retention, though members of combat units and the Marine Corps
expressed greater reservations about the shift. Congressional
action
was backed by Pentagon officials as a better alternative to a
court-ordered end.
Supporters of the repeal said it was long past time to abolish
what
they saw as an ill-advised practice that cost valuable personnel
and
forced troops to lie to serve their country.
“We righted a wrong,” said Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, the
independent from Connecticut and a leader of the effort to end the
ban. “Today we’ve done justice.”
Before voting on the repeal, the Senate blocked a bill that would
have
created a path to citizenship for certain illegal immigrants who
came
to the United States at a young age, completed two years of
college
or
military service and met other requirements including passing a
criminal background check.
The 55-to-41 vote in favor of the citizenship bill was five votes
short of the number needed to clear the way for final passage of
what
is known as the Dream Act.
The outcome effectively kills it for this year, and its fate
beyond
that is uncertain since Republicans who will assume control of the
House in January oppose the measure and are unlikely to bring it
to a
vote.
The Senate then moved on to the military legislation, engaging in
an
emotional back and forth over the merits of the measure as
advocates
for repeal watched from galleries crowded with people interested
in
the fate of both the military and immigration measures.
“I don’t care who you love,” Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of
Oregon,
said as the debate opened. “If you love this country enough to
risk
your life for it, you shouldn’t have to hide who you are.”
Mr. Wyden showed up for the Senate vote despite saying earlier
that
he
would be unable to do so because he would be undergoing final
tests
before his scheduled surgery for prostate cancer on Monday.
The vote came in the final days of the 111th Congress as Democrats
sought to force through a final few priorities before they turn
over
control of the House of Representatives to the Republicans in
January
and see their clout in the Senate diminished.
It represented a significant victory for the White House,
Congressional advocates of lifting the ban and activists who have
pushed for years to end the Pentagon policy created in 1993 under
the
Clinton administration as a compromise effort to end the practice
of
barring gay men and lesbians entirely from military service.
Saying it represented an emotional moment for members of the gay
community nationwide, advocates who supported repeal of “don’t
ask,
don’t tell” exchanged hugs outside the Senate chamber after the
vote.
“Today’s vote means gay and lesbian service members posted all
around
the world can stand taller knowing that ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’
will
soon be coming to an end,” said Aubrey Sarvis, an Army veteran and
executive director for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.
Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona and his party’s
presidential candidate in 2008, led the opposition to the repeal
and
said the vote was a sad day in history.
“I hope that when we pass this legislation that we will understand
that we are doing great damage,” Mr. McCain said. “And we could
possibly and probably, as the commandant of the Marine Corps said,
and
as I have been told by literally thousands of members of the
military,
harm the battle effectiveness vital to the survival of our young
men
and women in the military.”
He and others opposed to lifting the ban said the change could
harm
the unit cohesion that is essential to effective military
operations,
particularly in combat, and deter some Americans from enlisting or
pursuing a career in the military. They noted that despite support
for
repealing the ban from Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm.
Mike
Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, other military
commanders have warned that changing the practice would prove
disruptive.
“This isn’t broke,” Senator James M. Inhofe, Republican of
Oklahoma,
said about the policy. “It is working very well.”
Other Republicans said that while the policy might need to be
changed
at some point, Congress should not do so when American troops are
fighting overseas.
Only a week ago, the effort to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell”
policy seemed to be dead and in danger of fading for at least two
years with Republicans about to take control of the House. The
provision eliminating the ban was initially included in a broader
Pentagon policy bill, and Republican backers of repeal had refused
to
join in cutting off a filibuster against the underlying bill
because
of objections over limits on debate of the measure.
In a last-ditch effort, Mr. Lieberman and Senator Susan Collins of
Maine, a key Republican opponent of the ban, encouraged Democratic
Congressional leaders to instead pursue a vote on simply repealing
it.
The House passed the measure earlier in the week.
The repeal will not take effect for at least 60 days, and probably
longer, while some other procedural steps are taken. In addition,
the
bill requires the defense secretary to determine that policies are
in
place
