Gays See Repeal As Milestone

Gays see repeal as a civil rights milestone
Dec. 18: Cassandra Melnikow, foreground left, and her sister Victoria Melnikow, right, sit in New York's Times Square as news of the Senate approving the Repeal of 'Don't Ask Don't Tell' is displayed outside ABC Television's Times Square studios. NEW YORK - Allowing gays and Lesbians to serve openly in the U.S. Military is a step toward equality, advocates say, but a fight for other social changes such as Gay Marriage still lies ahead. The Senate voted Saturday to end the 17-year ban on op...

Gays See Repeal As A Civil Rights Milestone
NEW YORK (AP) — Allowing gays and Lesbians to serve openly in the U.S. Military is a step toward equality, advocates say, but a fight for other social changes such as Gay Marriage still lies ahead. The Senate voted Saturday to end the 17-year ban on Openly Gay Troops, overturning the Clinton-era policy known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.” “It’s one step in a very long process of becoming an Equal Rights citizen,” said Warren Arbury of Savannah, Ga., w...

Senate votes to repeal 'don't ask, don't tell'
Reporting from Washington and Los Angeles — The Senate voted to allow gays and Lesbians to serve openly in the Military, approving a bill that Repeals the policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" on Saturday. The 65-31 vote came after an earlier procedural vote that brought the milestone in Gay Rights to the Senate floor. It also fulfilled a campaign promise by President Obama, who has been under attack from liberals in his own party for seeking compromises with Republicans on economic and tax...

DADT: possible WH signing Wed, Palm study on Pentagon training, and Faux News on gays in showers
Some timely news -- Obama to sign 'don't ask' Repeal this week -- may hold news conference. Any bets as to who will be invited to the signing ceremony -- Joe Solmonese? Dan Choi? Victor Fehrenbach? Who do you think should be there? Though the schedule is being finalized, Gibbs said he expects a formal White House signing ceremony Wednesday morning to sign the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal. "I think there are a lot of people who are interested in attending," Gibbs said. *** And in terms o...

'Don't ask, don't tell' repealed: What's next?
President Obama will sign the Repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" on Wednesday, according to the White House. The Obama Administration hasn't said how long that process might take, but White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday he didn't expect the process to be "overly burdensome." As Military leaders prepare for the full integration of gay and Lesbian Troops into their services following the Repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell law," they plan to draw on the detailed conclusions of a P...

ROTC Returning to Harvard?
Following the Senate’s Repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the U.S. Military policy that bans Openly Gay and Lesbian Soldiers from serving, Harvard President Drew Faust indicated she would move to recognize ROTC, the military’s college officer training program. You must login to comment. The Fox Nation is for those opposed to intolerance, excessive government control of our lives, and attempts to monopolize opinion or suppress freedom of thought, expression, and worship. Rea...

Sit Back In Your Easy Chair: An HRC VP Believes Passage Of ENDA Is On Auto-Pilot
[S]ome gay Activists say the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Repeal will inevitably lead to more successes in their effort to erase the official barriers to complete parity in society. "If you can fight and die for your country, there's absolutely no reason why you can't be granted the full set of rights" that others have, including the ability to marry a same-sex partner, said Fred Sainz, a vice president at the Human Rights Campaign, a Gay Rights group. With the Military's policy repealed, he said,...

Pat Buchanan On DADT Repeal: Imposing Values Of Fire Island Will Be Hellish
There is a lot to see in this clip from The McLaughlin Group including a wildly colorful sports jacket worn by host John McLaughlin and an even more colorful commentary by conservative commentator Pat Buchanan as he established the arguments against Repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Military policy. With most public figures championing Repeal as a positive and historical Civil Rights moment, it’s at least unique to hear the opposing view argued so passionately by Buchanan. Bu...

In case you didnt hear the good news yet
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which is the American law barring Openly Gay men and women from serving in the Military, was repealed by the Senate this weekend. Once Obama signs the bill, the military will no longer be able to discriminate against gays and Lesbians. It’s ridiculous that it took this long, but good news nonetheless. jill has written 4045 posts for Feministe. Oh right, Bradley Manning. (67) Hospital saves woman's life; is told by Catholic leadership not to...

McCain Rants Against DADT Repeal: 'Today's A Very Sad Day' (VIDEO)
Before the Senate passed a Repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell on Saturday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) made an angry -- and somewhat rambling -- Speech on the floor against the repeal. He warned of "distractions" for servicemembers, adding: "I don't want to permit that opportunity to happen and I'll tell you why. You go up to Bethesda [Naval Hospital], Marines are up there with no legs, none. You've got Marines at Walter Reed with no limbs." "So here we are about six weeks after an election that repu...

Virginia Lawmaker Wants To Ban Active Homosexuals From Serving In National Guard
Virginia Delegate Robert G. Marshall says states have the right to bar gays from serving in National Guard units, and so he is responding to the Repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell by introducing a bill that would ensure “the effect of the 1994 federal law banning active Homosexuals from America’s Military forces will apply to the Virginia National Guard.” “With the Repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ President Obama seeks to pay back his h...

Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Opponents Taking Revenge On Russian Arms Treaty
WASHINGTON -- The Repeal of the Military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy over the weekend was a major victory for the White House, but it is now imperiling a chief priority: the ratification of the nuclear-arms-reduction pact with Russia known as the New START Treaty. Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) had promised the White House early last week that they would deliver the votes necessary to ratify the START treaty if the administration would pull the Repeal of the militar...

4 Winners From 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
The Repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" allowing gays to serve openly in the Military is a landmark Legislation - a historic Civil Rights bill that will be remembered in the history books for generations to come. But the political implications of its passage are also very significant, for both the White House and several leading senators whose fortunes changed overnight. Here are the four big political winners in the wake of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal: MORE FROM NATIONAL JOURNAL: Stage Se...

At Long Last, Military Honor
More than 14,000 Soldiers lost their jobs and their dignity over the last 17 years because they were gay, but there will be no more Victims of this injustice. The nation’s Military is about to send a message of tolerance and shared purpose to the world — now that political leaders, who voted for legalized Bigotry in the Armed Forces in 1993 and kept it alive since then, have found the strength to stand up and end it. The Senate vote on Saturday afternoon to allow open service by gay...

Harry Reid earns his place in history
A month ago, with no members of the press present, Harry Reid gave a Speech at the private Wedding of his Openly Gay Communications Director, Jon Summers. According to a source who was present, Reid spoke powerfully in favor of equality for gay and Lesbian Americans. I'm reporting this previously undisclosed episode because I'm not sure folks fully grasp how instrumental Reid was in getting don't ask don't tell repealed. Specifically, I don't think it's clearly understood what was so effective...

Cheers and Jeers: Monday
From the GREAT STATE OF Maine... Yay Just some random thoughts on Saturday's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Repeal vote, starting with today's boring correction: on November 28, Republican Senator Lindsay Graham gave Chris Wallace a pinky shake and a promise: "I don't believe there is anywhere near the votes to Repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. ... So I think in a Lame Duck setting Don't Ask, Don't Tell is not going anywhere." Nowhere, that is, except in the history books as a huge victory for gay civil...

Lunchtime Links
All the D.C.-based news site Politico wants for Christmas is not to spend New Years Eve 2012 in Iowa. The Food Safety bill thought to be dead for the year was passed on a voice vote Sunday night. State and federal law officers and prosecutors in Iowa announced a new joint initiative to identify, investigate and prosecute Mortgage Fraud. Bryan Fischer, whose organization helped bankroll the campaign to oust three Iowa Supreme Court justices over the 2009 decision legalizing same-sex marriage, sai...

What's Next for the Gay Rights Movement?
(Credit: AP / CBS) Just days after Saturday's historic passage of a stand-alone Senate Bill repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," David Brock, founder and CEO of the liberal Watchdog group Media Matters for America, has announced the launch of Equality Matters - a New Media initiative that aims to promote Lesbian, gay, Bisexual, and Transgender equality. The initiative, which Brock describes in a Press Release as a "communications war room for gay equality," comes as Activists start to shift the...

DADT Repeal Marks Milestone In Fight For Gay Rights
NEW YORK — Allowing gays and Lesbians to serve openly in the U.S. Military is a step toward equality, advocates say, but a fight for other social changes such as Gay Marriage still lies ahead. The Senate voted Saturday to end the 17-year ban on Openly Gay Troops, overturning the Clinton-era policy known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." "It's one step in a very long process of becoming an Equal Rights citizen," said Warren Arbury of Savannah, Ga., who served in The Army for seven years, includ...

Marines back 'don't ask' repeal, with reservations
JACKSONVILLE, N.C. -- Pfc. Daniel Carias, a Bronx native who is just weeks from graduating from Marine Corps infantry training at Camp Geiger near here, says he has known plenty of gay men since High School and feels completely comfortable around them. He thinks Congress did the right thing in repealing the ban on gay men and Lesbians serving openly in the Military, a policy known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." But Carias, 18, has one major concern: Gay men, he says, should not be allowed to serve...

West Virginia's Manchin skips key Senate votes
WASHINGTON — New Sen. Joe Manchin, the Democrat elected to replace the late Robert C. Byrd, chose to attend a family event over a pair of key votes Saturday that are signature pieces of his party's agenda. His absence didn't change the outcome of the votes to Repeal the Military's ban on Openly Gay personnel or the failure of a major Immigration Bill. But it raised eyebrows among senators who have seen ailing colleagues wheeled in just to raise a thumb for aye or point it down for nay. "...

West Virginia's Manchin skips key Senate votes
WASHINGTON—New Sen. Joe Manchin, the Democrat elected to replace the late Robert C. Byrd, chose to attend a family event over a pair of key votes Saturday that are signature pieces of his party's agenda. His absence didn't change the outcome of the votes to Repeal the Military's ban on Openly Gay personnel or the failure of a major Immigration Bill. But it raised eyebrows among senators who have seen ailing colleagues wheeled in just to raise a thumb for aye or point it down for nay. "The...

Cocky Virginia Now Disobeying Congressional Repeal of DADT
Virginia, fresh off the thrilling conservative victory of getting a Republican judge to rule part of ObamaCare Unconstitutional, is now looking to ban gays from the National Guard in its state, because playing around with secessionary tactics are the second greatest passion in the South. (#1 passion: the South.) Republican state Del. Bob Marshall is leading the charge on this Legislation and very coincidentally is said to be interested in a run for U.S. Senate. “This policy will weaken mil...

Obama to Sign 'Don't Ask' Bill on Wednesday
President Obama will sign the Repeal of the Military’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy into law Wednesday morning, and may hold a news conference before leaving for Hawaii later in the week, his Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs, said on Monday. Mr. Gibbs said a news conference was “certainly possible.” But the president’s Vacation schedule remains in flux, as Mr. Obama awaits the end of the Congressional session. Mr. Gibbs said the president was now e...

Obama could sign 'Don't ask' repeal Wednesday
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said President Obama will likely sign the law repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" on Wednesday morning. The president is already missing part of his Christmas Vacation, so his schedule is in flux. Gibbs hinted that the president would do a ceremonial signing because so many people have fought for Repeal for the last 17 years. Source: https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/134527-obama-could-sign-dont-ask-repeal-wednesday- ...