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Senator Gillibrand Officially Announces DADT Defunding Amendment, GOP Challenger Upset

02/08/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
It is sometimes hard to remember that Kirsten Gillibrand is facing a Republican challenger to her Senate seat given all the speculation regarding whether or not Harold Ford Jr. would be entering the Democratic Primary. Bruce Blakeman feels that Senator Gillibrand is grandstanding by trying to put an end to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Blakeman stated “the Pentagon is examining the policy and will make a recommendation in the future. Attempting to short circuit the process to score cheap political points is irresponsible. … We are a nation at war and the last thing our troops fighting overseas need is for politicians back home to be placing their political ambitions before the mission.” Never mind that, by stating this, he is himself trying to score points with the New York voters by trying to get people to question Gillibrand’s push to end this policy which is damaging the ability of the United State’s military to effectively operate in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Currently, the majority of Americans support repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and forty-nine percent of the members within the military currently are in favor of repeal or do not feel strongly enough about the issue to answer one way or the other. Blakeman feels that it is irresponsible for Gillibrand to push to defund discharges under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell without stating which side of the issue he is on. Unfortunately for Mr. Blakeman, Gillibrand’s amendment would not likely take effect until towards the completion of the year long review, and the Democratic majority in the Senate is already pushing for this review to take less time. Even Secretary Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen admitted that the year would need to take place no matter when exactly the repeal occurs. In point of fact, the majority of what Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen were saying at the hearing was that it will take a year to review all the issues and come up with policies which will prevent any major problems for gay and lesbian service members to serve openly. Support for Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell within the military has been steadily dropping over the years. In 2003, support for the policy was at sixty-three percent, but it is now at fifty-one. Unfortunately, the information is not broken down enough demographically in order to be able to determine if those in favor of the law are predominantly among the older members of the armed forces.

Senator Gillibrand made the formal announcement that she was introducing the amendment to defund DADT enforcement into the Defense Budget for next fiscal year at the Human Rights Campaign’s New York Gala. Video of her announcement is available and follows.

Blakeman: Gillibrand’s ‘don’t ask’ stance hurts morale

Blakeman: Gillibrand’s ‘don’t ask’ stance hurts morale