Fierce Advocacy Again
Been a while since I ranted about Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal. Not that things have been quiet - on the contrary, loads of stuff has been happening, but it’s been covered well elsewhere by people far closer to the issues and the detail than I.
But in the wake of the White House actively working against someone who had a plan to stop discharges under DADT by means of the frankly genius means of saying the DoD should save money by not pursuing any further discharges, I thought at the very least I should provide a link to this impressive summary of the situation relating to President Obama’s campaign promise that work on repeal would start the day he took office. It’s by Keori at Pam’s House Blend and clearly contrasts the promise of last year with the reality of today.
At every turn, the “fierce advocate” has gone out of his way to screw LGBT servicemembers and their families. He’s changed his rhetoric and his website, passed the buck to Congress, passed the buck to the Pentagon (who have admitted no real conversations on repeal or integration have taken place), admitted his refusal to utilize his authority as CINC to bring about change, and has pressured both the Supreme Court and Congress to leave the ban in place. He is actively fighting the change he promised.
A quick reminder - every single independent view says that support for repealing the policy is significant among every relevant sector; Democrats and Republicans (both politicians and the public), senior service leaders both current and past, everyone except it seems the actual boss of all those discharged LGBT servicemembers. So making the big assumption that the President isn’t actually a raging homophobe, what exactly is this man so afraid of?
EDIT to add this link to a Rachel Maddow interview with the proposer of that amendment, Congressman Alcee L. Hastings, who uses the word ‘thwarted’ regarding what happened to his effort.
I *heart* Maddow, and I’m now very fond of Congressman Hastings :)