Tuesday, February 2, 2010

DADT: Ding Dong the DADT Is (Nearing) Death


Well, well, well: it is a beginning.

Sec. Bob Gates and Adm. Mullen went before Congress and started the ball rolling on ending the 16 year injustice of DADT: Don't Ask Don't Tell. Supported by Colin Powell at the time he was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of the military service and Clinton was President, this awful bill and policy made people lie about who they were and are, and kept people in the lie and lying about who they are. Lying was actively promoted by the U.S. government...though this is nothing new.

From the NYT.com:

“No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens,” Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. He said it was his personal and professional belief that “allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do.”

But both Admiral Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told the committee they needed more time to review how to carry out the change in policy, which requires an act of Congress, and predicted some disruption to the armed forces.

Click here for more.

The time line is 2012. They have to figue out how to make a smooth transition, though, as posted earlier, this seems a delay tactic more than anything else. LGBTQ are already serving in the military service. They are already supporting partners and children. They are already living on bases. Just take the policies for heteros, and include homos.

Now for the Church to follow suit and end DADT among clergy and other religious leaders.

It's a step forward.

Pace!

B

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