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Obama Engages Senate, Calls Senators About Repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

Posted by: Bridgette P. LaVictoire on November 17, 2010.

11/17/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Has President Barack Obama finally heard the cries of LGBT Americans and begun to move the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell forward? Has Robin McGehee’s meeting with the Obama Administration finally started to bear fruit? Well, President Barack Obama appears to finally be picking up phone to call Congress and demand that they pass the repeal of DADT.

Chris Geidner of MetroWeekly reported:

”[White House spokesman Shin] Inouye wrote, ‘Today, President Obama called Chairman Levin to reiterate his commitment on keeping the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ in the National Defense Authorization Act, and the need for the Senate to pass this legislation during the lame duck.’

“He added, ‘The President’s call follows the outreach over the past week by the White House to dozens of Senators from both sides of the aisle on this issue.’”

This probably has less to do with the fence chaining than the fact that GetEQUAL finally tracked many policy movers and shakers to their favorite watering hole and protested them there. Once you start disrupting politicians where they relax, they tend to do things like wake up and say “hey, I was napping!” They then go out and do something in order to get you away.

Today, Robin McGehee, the co-founder and director of GetEQUAL finally got a meeting with the White House thanks to that protest and the growing realization that the LGBT Community is not happy with Obama’s lack of leadership. It is time for him to wake up and lead. Unfortunately, it’s a little hard to track HIM down to his favorite watering hole without getting the Secret Service after your backside.

While Obama has called Levin, he needs to start calling on Senators Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Scott Brown, Blanche Lincoln and Ben Nelson and get this passed.

Senators and advocacy groups including Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Patrick Leahy have set up a press conference for 18 November with regards to the push for DADT repeal.

It has been fifty-seven days since John McCain held the military hostage, and sixteen years three hundred and thirty-one days since DADT went into effect. Let’s get this law repealed!