In a press conference on Thursday March 25th, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, outlined immediate changes to the enforcement and investigations of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” violations.
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Category Archives: News
Repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: End is Near, But Battle Continues
I arrived last Thursday in Washington, DC to attend my annual pilgrimage to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network Lobby Days. I’ve participated in every single SLDN Lobby Days since the beginning. But somehow, this year was different. I arrived energized and optimistic because both houses of Congress have bills that would effectively repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
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SWAN launches new DADT telephone helpline for servicewomen, veterans
NEW YORK – The Service Women’s Action Network is launching a new telephone helpline to provide peer counseling for servicewomen and veterans, who are serving or served under the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.
“The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy is a discriminatory law that hurts military readiness and national security,” said Anuradha Bhagwati, SWAN Executive Director and former Marine captain.
For The Record
The following official statement concerning the repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and the statute banning “homosexual acts” by service members has been submitted for the record by American Veterans for Equal Rights to the Senate Armed Services Committee. A duplicate version has also been submitted for the record to the House Armed Services Committee.
Lift the Ban Now
Harry S. Truman did not survey white soldiers to determine if they felt comfortable serving with African-American soldiers before he integrated the US military in 1948. America’s soldiers are not asked if they mind serving with women, Jews, Catholics, Blacks, Muslims, or any other group. They are not asked if they want to serve with wiccans, foreign nationals, or convicted criminals, or if they mind serving under NATO officers, gay or straight, from countries overseas. Soldiers serve with whomever they are ordered to serve with, and if they are too immature to do so, they don’t belong in the military.
OpEd: Repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell ‘this year’ – State of the Union
President Obama, in his State of the Union address on Wednesday January 27th, said, “This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are.” The President preceded that by asserting his belief in true American values, “Abroad, America’s greatest source of strength has always been our ideals. The same is true at home. We find unity in our incredible diversity, drawing on the promise enshrined in our Constitution: the notion that we are all created equal, that no matter who you are or what you look like, if you abide by the law you should be protected by it, that if you adhere to our common values you should be treated no different than anyone else. We must continually renew this promise.”