Editorial note: Stay tuned, this will be updated throughout the day.
Earlier today, we told you about the joint statement OutServe and Knights OUT made, putting their loyalty to the military and fellow servicemembers — regardless of orientation — over the politics of repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Well, their attempt at selfless patriotism has caused a huge uproar among LGBT activists and advocacy groups.
Even Senator Joe Lieberman appeared on MSNBC easrlier todaty to state his opposition to his friend and colleague John McCain, and express his support for repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Liebermann also said he “Calls on Pentagon to Release Survey ASAP to Help Repeal DADT.”
In an attempt to minimize the political damage their well-intentioned statement has possibly made, a flurry of clarifications have come out from gay and lesbian activist groups.
Here’s a sampling:
J.D. Smith of OutSERVE:
“Let us be clear on where we stand as we begin this lame duck session. Nowhere do we call for repeal to be stripped from the NDAA. No matter what, we will be soldiers in this fight and the real issue is this: while people like Senator McCain continue to demonize us as unpatriotic and disloyal soldiers, we will stand strong with our fellow military members. Unlike Senator McCain, we refuse to abandon our comrades at a time when this country is dealing with multiple military conflicts.
“Senator McCain should be the target of the blame for the continued stalling and distractions during this process, and is responsible, ultimately, for perpetuating discrimination against gay and lesbian service members.
“In the past few years on active duty, my greatest support has come from straight active duty service members. They have stood by me when leadership tried to investigate me under DADT and risked their careers in order to protect me. They have been the rock of my support over the years. As a gay man and a proud member of the military, I have two dogs in this fight. It is incredibly painful to see how politicians – especially Senator McCain – will play politics with the lives of patriotic Americans, gay and straight.”
Chris Neff of The Palm Center:
“The battle lines for this lame duck session of Congress have been drawn. On one side, we see gay and lesbian troops being loyal to their fellow service members as they are discriminated against every day, along with repeal groups who have tirelessly invested nearly two decades of work to stop discriminatory discharges. They all understand duty and service to country.
“On the other side, we see Senator McCain who is willing to abandon military readiness funding because his prejudice against openly gay troops is more important.
“At the same time, our active duty troops understand that defense funding must move forward and OutServe should be commended for their principled stance in support of every service member no matter the outcome of the lame duck session.”
And then there’s this…
“The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), Servicemember Legal Defense Network (SLDN), Servicemembers United (SU) and the Center for American Progress (CAP), today united to send one strong and consistent message to senators as they return for the lame duck session: repeal the unjust and discriminatory law known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell†as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) this year. Under no conditions should DADT repeal be stripped from the underlying Defense Authorization bill; that is simply a non-starter.”
Stay tuned, this will be updated throughout the day.
The New Civil Rights Movement
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