The United States Senate at 3:30 PM ET today voted to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” 65-31, following a successful cloture vote of 63-33. Eight Republicans joined 57 Democrats to create near-super-majority passage. The bill now makes its way to President Barack Obama’s desk for his signature next week, as he fulfills a campaign and State of the Union promise.
This is a developing story and may be updated throughout the day. Stay tuned.
The end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” even though already ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge, still must be certified by the military and the Commander in Chief. Any LGBT soldiers who believe they can “come out” are still subject to discharge, and as Chris Geidner at MetroWeekly just wrote, “White House Won’t Commit to Halting DADT Discharges — a Position Taken By Reid, Levin,” despite the fact that Rep. Barney Frank, as The Huffington Post writes, says “President Obama would stop defending “don’t ask, don’t tell” in courts, even if a bill forcing its repeal fails to pass in the Senate.”
“I believe he has no longer any obligation to defend it in court,” Frank told MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann about the military’s law prohibiting gay servicemembers from openly serving. “If he’s against it, the House majorities voted against it, an overwhelming majority of the Senate votes against it, the administrators don’t want it, that’s lost its legitimacy, and he’s made that clear.”
The U.S. is about to join thirty-eight other nations, including twenty-two of our twenty-six NATO allies, in allowing openly-gay service member to serve. The thirty-eight nations include, Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Bermuda, and Uruguay.
The only Democrat to not vote “yes,” West Virginia’s newly-minted freshman Senator Joe Manchin, was not even in the Capital to vote. Via the Charleston Gazette:
“Manchin’s office says he had a “family obligation.â€
“Spokeswoman Sara Payne Scarbro said in an e-mail that Manchin and Gayle had “planned a holiday gathering over a year ago with all their children and grandchildren as they will not all be together on Christmas Day.â€
“While he regrets missing the votes, it was a family obligation that he just could not break,†Payne Scarbro said. “However, he has been clear on where he stands on the issues.â€
“Manchin issued two press releases this morning, saying he would not support either the DREAM Act or the DADT repeal.”
Eight Republicans voting for repeal included Brown, Snowe, Collins, Murkowski, Voinovich, Kirk (who all voted for cloture,) Ensign, and Burr.