LGBT community celebrates dont ask milestone

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...

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...

Repeal of Dont ask, dont tell: A civil rights milestone?
“Even though this is really huge, I look at it as a chink in a very, very long chain,” he added. The ruling drew quick rebuke from foes of lifting the ban who argued that the Military shouldn’t be used to expand the rights of gays and that allowing them to serve openly would hurt troop morale and a unit’s ability fight. Supporters declared the vote a Civil Rights milestone. Aaron Belkin, director of the California-based Palm Center — a Think Tank on the issue —...

Gays See Repeal As A Civil Rights Milestone
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-old 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, including three comba...

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...

Gays celebrate repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell'
(12-18) 16:33 PST New York (AP) -- Word that the world's largest Military power will allow gays and Lesbians to serve openly in the Military brought strong and swift reaction Saturday, with supporters declaring a Civil Rights milestone and detractors insisting it would weaken and divide the Armed Forces. In New York, home to one of the nation's largest gay communities and a Gay Pride parade whose grand marshal this year was an Openly Gay, discharged serviceman, 28-year-old Cassandra Melnikow g...

It Will Still Be Months Before 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Is Gone
What is this? Now that the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that bars Openly Gay men and women from serving in the Military is being repealed, how long will it be before the historic change takes effect? "Once the change becomes law with President Barack Obama's signature, the Military will need to revise policies and regulations that govern everything from leadership training to standards of conduct. And before the policy officially ends, the president, the secretary of defense and the chairman o...

Next steps for 'don't ask, don't tell'
A vote in the Senate on Saturday cleared the way to abolish the Pentagon's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. But questions remain about how the change will be implemented, and it will be months before gays and Lesbians can serve openly in the Military. What happens next? President Obama is expected to sign the measure this week. The president, secretary of Defense and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff must then sign a letter certifying that the necessary policy and Regulation changes have bee...

Gays See Repeal As Milestone
NEW YORK (AP) - One man who was kicked out of The Army under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" says the Senate's vote to abolish the ban on gays serving openly is "really huge." Opponents of lifting the ban argued that the Military shouldn't be used to expand the rights of gays, and that allowing them to serve openly would hurt troop morale. But supporters are calling yesterday's vote a Civil Rights milestone. The director of the Palm Center, a Think Tank on the issue, says the vote "ushers in a new era i...

'Don't ask, don't tell' repeal celebrated in S.F.
A dozen people crowded together around a small television set in the lobby of the San Francisco Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Center at noon Saturday, some of them clutching hands, all of them grinning. One by one, they listened as 96 names were called in a room 2,800 miles away. As ayes were tallied, shouts of "Yes!" could be heard, followed by whoops and hollers. When the final 65-31 Senate vote repealing the Military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy was finally announced, the group...

Vote Fallout...
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Historic Vote in Senate Repeals Dont Ask, Dont Tell
At 12″30 Pm Pacific, on  Saturday, Dec. 18, the US Senate finally voted 65-31 to Repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. For some of us who remember when the antigay policy was first enacted, it is a day for joyful tears and the beginning of mending a deeply wounded broken heart. One of the most moving moments for me in the whole 17-year effort to get rid of the heinous DADT policy came last Nov. 17 when young and old, new and experienced Repeal DADT advocates from GetEQUAL paid hom...

Gay ban repealed, but restrictions remain
WASHINGTON – While President Barack Obama this week is expected to clear the way for gays to serve openly in the Military, the new law won't go into effect immediately and unanswered questions remain: How soon will the new policy be implemented, will it be accepted by the Troops and could it hamper the military in Afghanistan and Iraq? The historic action by Congress Repeals the requirement, known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," that for the last 17 years has allowed gays and Lesbians to ser...

Gay ban repealed, but restrictions remain
WASHINGTON — While President Barack Obama this week is expected to clear the way for gays to serve openly in the Military, the new law won’t go into effect immediately and unanswered questions remain: How soon will the new policy be implemented, will it be accepted by the Troops and could it hamper the military in Afghanistan and Iraq? The historic action by Congress Repeals the requirement, known as "don’t ask, don’t tell," that for the last 17 years has allowed gays an...

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...

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...

Gays celebrate repeal of dont ask, dont tell
NEW YORK (AP) — Word that the world’s largest Military power will allow gays and Lesbians to serve openly in the Military brought strong and swift reaction Saturday, with supporters declaring a Civil Rights milestone and detractors insisting it would weaken and divide the Armed Forces. In New York, home to one of the nation’s largest gay communities and a Gay Pride parade whose grand marshal this year was an Openly Gay, discharged serviceman, 28-year-old Cassandra Melnikow glan...

'Don't Ask' and the base
I wrote over the weekend about the extent to which the passage of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was a symbol of Obama's keeping the faith not just with gay and Lesbian voters, but with his broader generational base, which sees Gay Rights as a defining Civil Rights issue. I then sat at a Brooklyn traffic light behind a car with Human Rights Campaign's striking "equality" Bumper Sticker pasted over an "Obama '08" sticker (grainy image above). Obama blogger Sam Graham-Fel...

In historic move, 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' repealed
After years of debate and intense discussion, the United States Military's policy requiring gay and Lesbian service members to hide their Sexual Orientation is finally brought to an end. A final vote of 65 to 31 in the Senate brought to an end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the long standing policy of mandatory discharge for any service member proven to be gay or lesbian. Speaking to the supporters of the Repeal, President Barack Obama lauded the end of a "policy that denied the service of thousands o...

Virginia Lawmaker To Introduce Legislation Barring Gays From National Guard
Washington Times: Responding to the federal Repeal of the Military policy banning open gays from serving in the Armed Forces, a state lawmaker in Virginia plans to fight back with Legislation that bars “active Homosexuals” from serving in the Virginia National Guard. Delegate Robert G. Marshall said the Constitution reserves states with the authority to do so and that he’ll introduce a bill in the State General Assembly next year that ensures the “the effect of the 1994...

What would George (Washington) do?
Virginia Delegate Bob Marshall, R-Manassas, announced that he was drafting Legislation to bar active Homosexuals from serving in the Virginia National Guard on the same day the Senate voted to eliminate the 17-year "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Citing Article 1, Section 8, Clause 16 of the Constitution which "reserv[es] to the States respectively. the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress." Forbidding open homo...

Senate Repeals Dont Ask Dont Tell
WASHINGTON - In a historic vote for Gay Rights, the Senate agreed on Saturday to do away with the Military’s 17-year ban on Openly Gay Troops and sent President Barack Obama Legislation to overturn the Clinton-era policy known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Obama was expected to sign the bill into law next week, although changes to military policy probably wouldn’t take effect for at least several months. Under the bill, the president and his top military a...

For gay rights, is repeal of 'don't ask' military ban the end or the beginning?
For the American Gay Rights movement, this is the big question that follows Saturday's landmark Repeal of the Military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Is the Senate vote the successful end of one struggle or a turning point for many others? Activists are hoping that the Repeal - which will allow gays to serve openly in the U.S. military - gives them significant new leverage. For the first time they can argue that if The Army trusts gay men and women with rifles, why shouldn't soc...

Gay ban repealed, but restrictions remain
WASHINGTON (AP) - While President Barack Obama this week is expected to clear the way for gays to serve openly in the Military, the new law won't go into effect immediately and unanswered questions remain: How soon will the new policy be implemented, will it be accepted by the Troops and could it hamper the military in Afghanistan and Iraq? The historic action by Congress Repeals the requirement, known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," that for the last 17 years has allowed gays and Lesbians to serve...

Richard Socarides: Why Equality Matters
The following is a column by Richard Socarides, president of Equality Matters. As we prepare to launch EqualityMatters.org, Congress has just approved a bill repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." This highly significant victory is an important milestone in our effort to secure full equality. No one said it better than our president, who deserves substantial credit for helping to bring about this day: "It is time to close this chapter in our history," President Obama said in a statement. "It is ti...