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Swift Reaction By Senators, OutServe, Stonewall Democrats To Pentagon’s DADT Report

11/30/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Reaction was swift with Lieberman, Udall and Gillibrand as well as OutServe, and the Stonewall Democrats offering up the following statements regarding the Pentagon report’s release.

Lieberman, Udall, Gillibrand Praise Pentagon Report on
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Repeal

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Mark Udall (D-CO), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) issued the following statement today regarding the Pentagon’s release of a report on repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the law that prevents gay Americans from openly serving in the military:

“The Pentagon report makes it unambiguously clear that the risk of repeal on military effectiveness is minimal, that any risks can be addressed by implementing the report’s recommendations, and that a clear majority of active duty servicemen and women have no problem with repeal. The military has spoken and now is the time to repeal this policy that is damaging to our national security.

“The report is the product of one of the most, if not the most, extensive studies on a military personnel issue that has ever been conducted and its findings demonstrate that we can proceed with repeal of this discriminatory policy in a way that ensures that the U.S. military continues to be the best fighting force in the world. Men and women, regardless of their race, religion, or sexual orientation, who are willing to fight and defend our country should be allowed to do so without fear of discrimination.

“We will continue to work with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to fight to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ this year. We look forward to the hearings scheduled for later this week where Secretary of Defense Gates, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the chairmen of the Pentagon’s working group, General Counsel Jeh Johnson and General Carter Ham, will present the report to Congress.”

OutServe issued the following statement regarding this repeal:

OUTSERVE HAILS PENTAGON REPORT ON “DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL”
Gay Military Underground Network Says Report “Ends the Controversy”

WASHINGTON, DC, November 29, 2010 – OutServe, the underground network of gay and lesbian actively serving military members, responded today to the release of the long-awaited Pentagon report on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

“This report definitely answers the question of the impact of DADT repeal on the military. Specifically, knowing a soldier is gay has no negative impact on readiness,” said Jonathan Hopkins, former Army Captain and veteran of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. “We’ve known this for a long time. Among military members who know they’ve served with someone gay, 92% said that repeal would have little or no negative effect on military readiness. 69% of servicemembers who responded to the survey said they served with someone they knew or suspected was gay.

“This study gets to the facts, and exposes the invented argument of ‘unit cohesion’ as a myth,” said Hopkins. “Those who’ve served with gay or lesbian soldiers, Marines, or servicemembers of any stripe recognize that gay troops have – as the Pentagon report says – a ‘patriotic desire to serve’ as well as a ‘desire to fit in, coexist, and succeed in the military environment.’ ”

“I don’t want any special treatment. I just want them to take the knife out of my back so I can serve,” said an anonymous gay Marine on the OutServe network.

Said actively serving co-director JD Smith: “What is important about this report is that it definitively shows that gay soldiers currently serving have a strong desire to fit in and serve their country patriotically. Sec. Gates has clearly called on the Senate to pass the repeal legislation, and our elected officials should heed him.”

“The Pentagon has spoken. Now the only thing keeping this policy in place is politics,” concluded Hopkins.

The Senate Armed Services Committee is holding hearings on the report later this week.???OutServe is a network of actively serving members of the United States Armed Services who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender. The organization launched publicly on July 26, 2010. The organization is led by an active-duty member who goes by the pseudonym of JD Smith and civilian Co-Director Ty Walrod.

The National Stonewall Democrats also offered a similar statement noting:

National Stonewall Democrats: DADT repeal is not some fringe issue being pushed by a small minority; it is an issue supported by a large majority of Americans and service members

Washington, DC – National Stonewall Democrats Executive Director Michael Mitchell made these comments on the release of the Defense Department’s “Report on the Comprehensive Review of the Issues Associated with the Repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’”

“Today’s release by the Defense Department of their ‘Report on the Comprehensive Review of the Issues Associated with a Repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ shows that our military is staffed and run by intelligent Americans who can work alongside lesbian and gay soldiers serving openly in their midst, and that logistical issues such as housing can be handled efficiently and wisely.

“Recent statements by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and even Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) that more study needs to take place before repeal are just stall tactics, especially given the thorough, year-long process that the Defense Department undertook to study the issue of repeal. We also find it ironic that the Senators said that the upper chamber should be talking about jobs and not ‘political’ issues like DADT repeal. We remind the Senators that DADT is about jobs: the jobs of thousands of soldiers, some of them mission critical and irreplaceable, who were discharged from the military because of the discriminatory DADT.

“DADT repeal is not some fringe issue being pushed by a small minority; it is an issue supported by a large majority of Americans and now, we find with the official release of the study, by an equally large majority of the military.

“We call on Senators standing in the way of history to trust the military’s study and vote for the National Defense Authorization Act with DADT repeal language intact. We also call on our Stonewall Democrat family and supporters to immediately contact their Senators, regardless of party, to ask them to support DADT repeal now that the Defense Department has released their comprehensive study.”
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With close to 90 affiliates, National Stonewall Democrats is the organization for LGBT and allied Democrats. Stonewall Democrats works to elect pro-equality Democrats to public office and hold them accountable to advance the pro-equality policies and legislation important to LGBT Americans.

National Stonewall Democrats also offered this statement:

National Stonewall Democrats: Sen. Pryor needs to remember he represents all of Arkansas and vote for cloture and the NDAA

Washington, DC – Michael Mitchell, Executive Director of the National Stonewall Democrats, released a statement today regarding recent comments by Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) on the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy:

“At National Stonewall Democrats, part of our mission is to hold Democrats accountable for how their views and votes affect our community,” said Michael Mitchell, National Stonewall Democrats Executive Director. “It saddens me that from time to time we have to call members of our Party on the carpet for their backwards views on equality and the votes that adversely affect the LGBT community.

“Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) voted against cloture on the National Defense Authorization Act in September, joining the entire GOP caucus and the other Senator from Arkansas, Blanche Lincoln (Majority Leader Harry Reid voted against cloture as well in a procedural move that allows him to bring it up for reconsideration). In a recent article in an Arkansas newspaper, Pryor reaffirmed that he will do so again, saying that he believes the military needs ‘a bit longer’ to study the issue of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal and citing concerns about troop housing. It also disturbs us that he said he believes ‘homosexuality is a sin.’

“Today’s release of the Pentagon Working Group study on open service shows that our military is staffed and run by intelligent Americans who can work alongside lesbian and gay soldiers serving openly in their midst, and that logistical issues such as housing will be handled efficiently and wisely,” Mitchell continued. “Pryor is behind where the large majority of the military already is, and behind where the large majority of Americans are.”

“Sen. Pryor needs to remember that he represents all Arkansans, not just straight, Christian ones,” said Angela Frazier, Vice President of the Stonewall Democrats of Arkansas. “Everyone is entitled to their beliefs – and we are not suggesting at all that Sen. Pryor can’t practice his chosen religion. We are strongly suggesting, however, that he consider being a leader in a way that includes all Arkansans and be mindful of his language when referring to entire swaths of the constituents he represents.

“We ask Sen. Pryor to trust the thorough process that the military just went through and to trust what the study says about open service by lesbian and gay troops,” Frazier continued. “We ask both him and Sen. Blanche Lincoln to vote for cloture and for the NDAA, including the repeal of DADT.”
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With close to 90 affiliates, National Stonewall Democrats is the organization for LGBT and allied Democrats. Stonewall Democrats works to elect pro-equality Democrats to public office and hold them accountable to advance the pro-equality policies and legislation important to LGBT Americans.
To learn more about our work, visit www.stonewalldemocrats.org or follow us on Twitter @StonewallDems