Veterans Call Out Obama On 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

[tekisui]

Source: NPR

In 1948, President Harry Truman signed an executive order ending racial segregation in the armed forces. In the 2008 presidential campaign, candidate Barack Obama promised to end another kind of discrimination in the military: the long-standing ban on gay service members. But nearly six months into his presidency, he has yet to make good on that promise. Congress also has taken no action.

Now the latest push is coming, at least in part, from elsewhere. Former Army linguist Jarrod Chlapowski told reporters in Washington on Wednesday that he and others hope to make a national cause of repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which prohibits openly gay people from serving in the military. The Clinton-era law has led to the dismissal of more than 13,000 gay service members.

"Over the next two months, a group of young Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom-era vets, both gay and straight, will be touring the country, bringing the issue to America's doorstep," Chlapowski said at the National Press Club.

They're calling it the Voices of Honor tour. It initially targets eight major cities in swing voting districts.

Army Staff Sgt. Genevieve Chase, an Afghanistan war veteran who is straight, said she's joining the tour to try to refute the view held by some that openly gay service members undermine troop readiness and cohesion.

"I'm here to tell you that gays have been and are already serving openly," she said. "Unit cohesion across the spectrum of the military is better than it has ever been, because our generation embraces diversity."

more: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106409760

[babylonsister]

1. So is Rep. Patrick Murphy.

'More than 13,000 service members discharged because of DADT.'

He's on Rachel now.

[Liberation Angel]

2. Happy to be the first to K&R

I hope.

I worked with IVAW in Denver (at the Dem convention) and if anybody can make this issue work it is the veterans who went through hell believing in this country.

The failure to do this one more betrayal of the values of peace and freedom they believed they were fighting for.

[Solly Mack]

3. K&R

[Thrill]

4. That doesn't sound like they're calling Obama out. Thats the writer of the article

[Peacetrain]

5. Just listened to Patrick Murphy on Rachael..and he said that he

is proposing the legislation to end DADT, and that the President would sign it when it got on his desk..

Edit to add... Patrick Murphy is a Blue Dog.. something to remember before we start throwing whole segments of the democratic party under the bus because we don't totally agree with them on parts of an agenda.. and let me add.. that includes the President who some seem quick to throw under the bus also

[rbixby]

6. I think the proper way to do this

Is to have congress pass a law repealing DADT and then the president will sign it. It seems to me that the president issuing an executive order to remove this policy would be inappropriate, since DADT was originally passed by congress. I doubt that it would have much trouble passing both houses in this new political climate.