Senate Panel Votes to Repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Policy - Polidicks

[quote]The Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday voted to let the Pentagon repeal the ban on gay men, lesbians and bisexual people from serving openly in the military, a big step toward dismantling the Clinton-era policy widely known as “don’t ask, don’t tell” as part of the annual defense authorization bill. The House has included a provision for repealing the ban in its version of the defense authorization bill, and a vote on the legislation was possible late Thursday. The Senate Armed Services Committee voted in a closed session, after about an hour of heated debate. The tally was 16 to 12. Senator Susan Collins of Maine said she was the only Republican to vote in favor of a repeal. She called the debate “vigorous.” Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan and chairman of the committee, said he believed the full Senate would support the repeal. President Obama and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates favor repealing the ban, but the chiefs of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines have objected. In letters solicited by Senator John McCain of Arizona, the senior Republican on the Armed Services Committee, they urged Congress to delay voting on the issue until after Dec. 1, when the Defense Department is expected to complete a review of how to impose new rules. Mr. McCain said the policy change would be “harmful” to morale. With liberals in Congress being asked to vote this week on an unpopular war spending bill, Congressional Democratic leaders have been pushing to finally do away with a ban that many in their party view as discriminatory and unpatriotic. In a floor speech on Thursday, Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, denounced the policy that requires gay men, lesbians and bisexuals to keep their sexual orientation secret if they want to serve in the armed forces. Mr. Frank noted that the Israeli military, which he called “as effective a fighting force as has existed in modern times” does not bar gay men or lesbians from service. Mr. Frank, who is openly gay, also said that he would be criticized — rightly, he said — if he were to suggest that gay men and lesbians be exempted if a military draft were needed. Representative Mike Pence of Indiana, the No. 3 Republican, accused Democrats of trying to use the military “to advance a liberal social agenda” and demanded that Congress “put its priorities in order.” Earlier this week, Mr. Gates reluctantly said he would support a compromise between the White House and Congressional leaders that would allow Congress to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law now, but delay implementation of a new policy until after the Pentagon completes its review. As the House headed toward the politically charged vote as part of a broader Pentagon policy measure, Republicans and Democrats sought to frame the issue and several Republicans — typically backers of Pentagon legislation — said they would oppose the measure if a repeal of the ban was included. “The military is not a social experiment,” said Representative Louie Gohmert, Republican of Texas, who said lifting the ban could encourage “overt” sexual behavior in the ranks. Democrats, saying Republicans were mischaracterizing the proposal, noted that it would not be implemented if the Pentagon leadership determined that it would disrupt military readiness, unit cohesion or recruiting. “This policy will happen only when the secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff stay that it is the right thing to do for this country,” Representative Robert Andrews, Democrat of New Jersey, said. Democrats said they expected a handful of Republicans to join Democrats in adding the proposal to lift the ban to the measure.[/quote] [B]Source:[/B] [url]http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/us/politics/28tell.html[/url] This guy wasn't too happy about it: [quote]As a 18 year Vet of the Army and the Infantry Core , this makes me sick to my stomach , I cant wait to see how the ground force reacts to this. The military is not a place for Gays and will cause nothing but trouble when this is past. So call me what you want , I have 6 deployments under my belt for my county how about you ?[/quote]

Another step in the right direction.

[QUOTE]As a 18 year Vet of the Army and the Infantry Core , this makes me sick to my stomach , I cant wait to see how the ground force reacts to this. The military is not a place for Gays and will cause nothing but trouble when this is past. So call me what you want , I have 6 deployments under my belt for my county how about you ?[/QUOTE] Who gives a shit. It's morally and ethically wrong

i have no deployments under my belt for my country :(

I heard a lot of military leaders say that gay people would be good in the military

Fuck yeah

[QUOTE=codenamecueball;22203768]Who gives a shit. It's morally and ethically wrong[/QUOTE] Yeah but there is such a thing as a wrong and right place to bring up "sexuality." Military is the wrong place for it, call it morally and ethically wrong but if it wasn't a problem before then why now? All this is doing is stirring more shit up. It never banned gays from the military, it was just saying "Be discrete and don't tell anyone..they don't want to know anyway." But most gays will hide it anyway despite this policy being lifted.

[QUOTE=MR-X;22203832]Yeah but there is such a thing as a wrong and right place to bring up "sexuality." Military is the wrong place for it, call it morally and ethically wrong but if it wasn't a problem before then why now? All this is doing is stirring more shit up. It never banned gays from the military, it was just saying "Be discrete and don't tell anyone..they don't want to know anyway." But most gays will hide it anyway despite this policy being lifted.[/QUOTE] Does it apply to all? Heterosexuals and LGBTs?

[QUOTE=MR-X;22203832]Yeah but there is such a thing as a wrong and right place to bring up "sexuality." Military is the wrong place for it, call it morally and ethically wrong but if it wasn't a problem before then why now? All this is doing is stirring more shit up. It never banned gays from the military, it was just saying "Be discrete and don't tell anyone..they don't want to know anyway." But most gays will hide it anyway despite this policy being lifted.[/QUOTE] I dunno, I've heard about cases where LGBTs kept their orientation private during their service, but through some invasion of privacy someone found out they were gay and then they got the boot, even though they abide by rules.

Actually, don't repeal the "Don't ask, Don't tell" policy. Why? Because the gays and lesbians of America will then be able to dodge the draft if there's ever heavy conscription in the future. Why, after all, would they want to fight in the defense of a country that doesn't respect their human rights and freedoms? For this reason, if I had a vote, I'd vote to keep it in place.

Yeah see even if the policy seems fair, somebody in the military is going to find some way to use it to get rid of people they don't like.

[QUOTE=archangel125;22204101]Actually, don't repeal the "Don't ask, Don't tell" policy. Why? Because the gays and lesbians of America will then be able to dodge the draft if there's ever heavy conscription in the future. Why, after all, would they want to fight in the defense of a country that doesn't respect their human rights and freedoms? For this reason, if I had a vote, I'd vote to keep it in place.[/QUOTE] Yea, in case of a draft, I doubt they'll care if you're gay or not. They'll need people

[QUOTE=archangel125;22204101]Actually, don't repeal the "Don't ask, Don't tell" policy. Why? Because the gays and lesbians of America will then be able to dodge the draft if there's ever heavy conscription in the future. Why, after all, would they want to fight in the defense of a country that doesn't respect their human rights and freedoms? For this reason, if I had a vote, I'd vote to keep it in place.[/QUOTE] Good thing you're canadian

[QUOTE=MR-X;22203832]Yeah but there is such a thing as a wrong and right place to bring up "sexuality." Military is the wrong place for it, call it morally and ethically wrong but if it wasn't a problem before then why now? All this is doing is stirring more shit up. It never banned gays from the military, it was just saying "Be discrete and don't tell anyone..they don't want to know anyway." But most gays will hide it anyway despite this policy being lifted.[/QUOTE] You do know that you can be fired for being outed under DADT, regardless of how discrete you are. As well, repealing DADT isn't going to revolutionise anything, unless you count more people being valued for who they are and not having to risk being fired for something they cannot control, revolutionary

Yeah. So what? The USA wants to repeal the law so that gays won't have an option to get out of the military if they're called on to fight? When the United States as a whole finally passes laws that officially recognize the rights of LGB people in their country, when the US catches up to Canada in terms of freedoms and upholding human rights, THEN I'd be in favor of eliminating the policy. Not before.

Didn't stop Muhammad Ali from standing up for himself

And this comes right after the United States prepares to support South Korea in the event of war. Coincidence? I think not.

[QUOTE=The golden;22203923]Guy quoted by the OP is a worthless waste of human life. And has probably never met a gay person in his entire life.[/QUOTE] Oh my fucking god holy shit get your head out of your ass, he doesn't like gays, and he's verbal about it, but he's worth SOOO much more than you.

[QUOTE=Gummylamb;22204386]Oh my fucking god holy shit get your head out of your ass, he doesn't like gays, and he's verbal about it, but he's worth SOOO much more than you.[/QUOTE] Why, because he helped invade a country he'd never even heard about before 9/11 and killed a bunch of brown people?

[QUOTE=Gummylamb;22204386]Oh my fucking god holy shit get your head out of your ass, he doesn't like gays, and he's verbal about it, but he's worth SOOO much more than you.[/QUOTE] I don't think it's fair to compare any two people in terms of worth, you can't compare the worth of two people you don't know either. Unless they're fucking gigantic historical figures who impacted humanity in ways some of us could never imagine.

Saying you're gay in the military is like telling some skinheads that you need to go buy some matza for Passover.

[QUOTE=Mingebox;22204462]Saying you're gay in the military is like telling some skinheads that you need to go buy some matza for Passover.[/QUOTE] I dont see why that would be.

[QUOTE=archangel125;22204323]And this comes right after the United States prepares to support South Korea in the event of war. Coincidence? I think not.[/QUOTE] You don't know anything about American politics, apparently, and should probably stop talking. The American military would not come close to needing the numbers provided by allowing gays to serve. Regardless of if they did, this process has been going on for months, long before the tensions on the Korean peninsula started. [QUOTE=archangel125;22204444]Why, because he helped invade a country he'd never even heard about before 9/11 and killed a bunch of brown people?[/QUOTE] You also don't understand the nature of the American's forces nor their roll.

[QUOTE=Regulas021;22204517]You don't know anything about American politics, apparently, and should probably stop talking. The American military would not come close to needing the numbers provided by allowing gays to serve. Regardless of if they did, this process has been going on for months, long before the tensions on the Korean peninsula started. You also don't understand the nature of the American's forces nor their roll.[/QUOTE] That's role. And I study global politics. I probably understand the 'nature' of the American forces better than you do.

Go Levin, woo! My parents didn' vote you in for nothin, good to see you're votin the right way.

[QUOTE=archangel125;22204595]That's role. And I study global politics. I probably understand the 'nature' of the American forces better than you do.[/QUOTE] And yet you claim that all he does is kill brown people in countries he's never heard of....Yeah, I'm sure.

[QUOTE=Regulas021;22204783]And yet you claim that all he does is kill brown people in countries he's never heard of....Yeah, I'm sure.[/QUOTE] Yes, I do. I've spoken with many, many American soldiers today, and I can safely say that, while I admire their courage, compared to veterans of wars past, they're mostly fucking idiots. Even many of the officers are bigoted fucks. Racist, sexist, and homophobic.

[QUOTE=archangel125;22204444]Why, because he helped invade a country he'd never even heard about before 9/11 and killed a bunch of brown people?[/QUOTE] There's something about willing to sacrifice your life for your country that sounds worthy of recognition...but that's just me I guess.

[QUOTE=The golden;22204877]But on the other hand, I have a hard time feeling recognition for someone who has signed their name up for slaughtering other human beings.[/QUOTE] I'm sure you do, because you're not very smart. But he's doing it with "defending country and home land" in mind. [editline]05:49PM[/editline] not "oh yeah kill that brown islamic piece of shit"

[QUOTE=Gummylamb;22204886]I'm sure you do, because you're not very smart. But he's doing it with "defending country and home land" in mind. [editline]05:49PM[/editline] not "oh yeah kill that brown islamic piece of shit"[/QUOTE] Actually, you'd be surprised just how much of it is "Kill that brown islamic piece of shit." Let's stop derailing this thread.