Well isn’t that just lovely news: The House voted 234-194 to approve a DADT repeal with the “compromise” language (26 Democrats opposed the bill), while five Republicans joined, and the Senate Armed Services Committee voted 16-12 to approve it, sending the bill to the full Senate for a vote, likely next month. Congratulations to all of our lawmakers for voting to not end gay soldier dismissals any earlier than expected!
Says the president in a statement: “I have long advocated that we repeal ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’, and I am pleased that both the House of Representatives and the Senate Armed Services Committee took important bipartisan steps toward repeal tonight. Key to successful repeal will be the ongoing Defense Department review, and as such I am grateful that the amendments offered by Representative Patrick Murphy and Senators Joseph Lieberman and Carl Levin that passed today will ensure that the Department of Defense can complete that comprehensive review that will allow our military and their families the opportunity to inform and shape the implementation process. Our military is made up of the best and bravest men and women in our nation, and my greatest honor is leading them as Commander-in-Chief. This legislation will help make our Armed Forces even stronger and more inclusive by allowing gay and lesbian soldiers to serve honestly and with integrity.”
Oh give it a rest, Obama. You did not want this to happen. Nobody believes your spin. Except, uh, the Associated Press: “Obama and leading Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had actively supported the repeal so that gays could serve in the military without fear of being exposed and discharged.”
[LAT]
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Mike
Well that’s great. I personally feel that same sex marriage was a more important issue considering there is NO WAY IN HELL that I would ever join the military.
Rodrigo
Well it may not be as big as marriage but it is certainly a step in the right direction..AND hell of a lot more than previous presidents have done for gays..!
I’m very happy for our gay and lesbian service members who’ll soon be able to be themselves ! You deserved it!!
Aaron Rowland
Actually Queerty, no one believes your spin.
Bitter in defeat I understand.
Bitter in victory? Totally lame.
whatever
@Aaron Rowland: Yeah, the queertard eds are really out to lunch on this. But their job is to fluff the hactivists and drama queens so I guess they are doing it right.
B
QUEERTY stated, “Oh give it a rest, Obama. You did not want this to happen.”
So, QUEERTY would have us believe that its staff includes a mind-reader or two who are tuned into the Oval Office and can tell what the president thinks? Hint: if you somehow have one or two, there are a few governments who would pay you enough to run your site for 100 years if you farm those guys out to them.
Dennis
Bitches, truly, put down the crack pipe and go back to journalism school (as if ya evah did in the first place!)
This is not the final victory, and this is taking too long…but it IS progress, and we are on the way to a repeal…you post other articles on gay hating bigots scheming against the gays and DADT’s repeal, and you lump in Obama with that evangelical/delusional crowd? Honey, you make Whitney Houston look like a voice of reason and sanity with your outlandish rants…call your sponsor ASAP, you’re having a relapse.
Unrepentedly bitter, and factually wrong about the President’s intent is no way to go thru life, Queerty.
princess.johnsonXIV
wow, i love watching this blog intellectually melting down for the fifteenth time, showing its ass etc.
you f*ckin hillbilly puma nihilist r*tards are so mixed up with your jealousy and your hate, you don’t even know what you want anymore.
and i love it!
keep on telling on yourselves!
meanwhile, (among a million other things)
Black “gay” people are getting legally married in washington dc!
Change is What’s Happening, you assholes!
turn your frown upside down (or did your face freeze that way??)
haha
hey hauslib (sp?)? you little rodenty round eyed jealous troll
what are you going to do when repeal is complete?
obama will still be The Man and you will be a late hater.
it’s gonna be a hard candy xmas for you b*tches this year.
a kind of empty nest syndrome.
you’ll find something else.
go play slots and smoke a dick, haters!
watch f*ckin “glee”, smegmonsters!
jeffmcm
This is silly. This is pretty much the best that could happen given the political situation in the Senate – Obama has to keep ALL Dems plus Susan Collins in order to make this happen. And it has to happen in this manner, or it won’t until 2013 at the earliest. Seems slow and painful? Yeah, it is. That’s how change works, and that’s how politics work. Considering that a mere 40 years ago, homosexuality was ILLEGAL across the country, the progress made in that time is very, very impressive.
princess.johnsonXIV
“Oh give it a rest, Queerty. You did not want this to happen. Nobody believes your spin.”
haha!
Incremental Change is What’s Happening!
Devon
Let me get this straight…What they passed tonight:
-Allows this asinine little survey to move forward.
-Contains no deadlines.
-Leaves the repeal date up to Robert Gates and the JCOS.
-Doesn’t place any kind of moratorium on discharges while they wait for the “right time” to implement equality.
-Lacks any non-discrimination policies, meaning gay soldiers can still be fired based on their sexuality once DADT is officially repealed.
All it does is give the Democrats a token “accomplishment” to point to in November. Meanwhile nothing really changes and they don’t have to worry about pushing forward on more important, substantive gay rights legislation. ENDA, for example.
Thanks to Obama and this congress, I now cringe when I hear the word “compromise” and puke in my mouth a little whenever someone says “pragmatist.”
John (CA)
It is a horribly contrived affair. And the general trend suggests that the longer it takes, the weaker the legislation will be. Moreover, the final product will probably resemble the Senate version more than the “better” House one simply because of the filibuster problem.
ORIGINAL BILL
As introduced by Rep. Patrick Murphy of Pennsylvania and Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut
The original legislation, the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, eliminates the 1993 DADT statute in the United States Code and all associated regulations (DOD directives, UCMJ, etc.) immediately. It also enacts a series of non-discrimination policies designed to ease integration.
HOUSE AMENDMENTS AS PASSED
– DADT statute repealed automatically when the Pentagon releases its report on December 1; as proposed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.
– Associated regulations barring LGBT soldiers from serving are repealed upon certification of the Pentagon report by the President, Secretary of Defense, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; as proposed by the White House.
– Scope of non-discrimination provisions left up to the sole discretion of the President; as proposed by the White House.
SENATE AMENDMENTS THUS FAR
– No specific date for DADT repeal. The statute, along with all associated regulations, are repealed upon certification of the Pentagon report by the President, Secretary of Defense, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; as proposed by Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska.
– Congressional review period of two months – including hearings with the Joint Chiefs and Secretary of Defense – after the repeal process is initiated; as proposed by Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia.
– Scope of non-discrimination provisions left up to the sole discretion of the President; as proposed by the White House.
Steff
Alright, the whole compromised DADT bill is certainly a weak attempt at providing the much needed equality. However, claiming Obama doesn’t want equality for gays and lesbians might be just as weak in its stance. Most likely given his background, he personally probably is in favor of LGBT rights. The exception to his perceived lack of action is that the vocalization LGBT rights during a major fiscal crisis (along with the meltdown of major industries) is probably a political liability. In order to get anything done, there has to be pandering done to conservative lunatics (especially pertaining to a liberal social agenda). It’s horrible but it’s the ugly truth, you only hope that in the end we might get something worthwhile and have a chance to better it as time goes on.
wondermann
Oh Queerty. Admit it, you’re haters and failures
Lanjier
I was very critical of Obama and the Democrats. But I also give credit where it is due. I think that he did pull this off. I like the compromise because when this is over they will take ownership of the issue which will make for a successful implementation.
And the solution did not pour gasoline on the fundies which could have hurt the Democrats in the midterms. I am a lifelong Democrat, and I can say that they swung a bat for gay people. I am going to help them in the midterms.
But this did not happen by being Mr. Nice guy, like that asshole “Reason,” who always said it was sensible not to criticize Obama.
We own this government just as much as anyone else, and we have to speak out vociferously when we are being screwed. The people pleasing politics are over. They work for US and we can never forget it.
fredo777
I’m starting to believe this site’s management has been taken over by GOProud members. >_>
Mike
Are the writers at Queerty EVER satisfied? Obama has managed to do more things for the gay community than any other President in history. He promised change and he’s making it happen. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to pass a bill like this? Please stop being such haters!
jason
We have to be very careful how we assess this. We have to look at the possibility that the review of DADT is biased against us. If this happens, what will the Democrats and Obama do? Will they still go ahead and officially repeal it in December? By then, they will already have secured a large portion of the gay vote in November, and there won’t be as compelling a reason for the Democrats to do it.
Are we being played here? I urge all of you to think long and hard about it. Obama’s coterie consists of master tacticians. They didn’t become highly paid strategists by chance, they earned it.
Jimmy
Gosh, if Queerty writes this nasty stuff about our ally in the White House I can’t wait to stick around and read a couple of years from now what you say about President Palin and Vice President Beck.
Lanjier
Queerty has been correct in being critical of the government. The protests and the blogging of this site and others is why the repeal happened. Do you think if we left it us to the ass-kissing, party-throwing, Obama cooing fuctards at HRC we would be seeing the policy changed? HRC gave the White House a pass until “2017!”
Obama is an “ally” when he takes the ACTION of an ally. And in the case of DADT he did take action at a time when it matters. If he had not been pressured, he would have waited until after the midterms when it would have been too late.
But Queerty did an excellent job in holding the government accountable. If they had sucked his dick like every gay elitist idiot nothing would have happened.
JamieMcG
The problem with celebrating this as a “win” is that it makes people sit back and relax.
Our community is horrifically apathetic already. By gutting this repeal of anything with any actual worth or function towards real equality, and then calling it a “repeal of DADT,” it placates our community further.
Yes, even small wins should be applauded, but not at the sacrifice of the tiny amount of fervor this community has towards winning its own equality.
Additionally, this is not an Obama win. He made VERY clear that he did not want this repealed until after the midterms (and to be honest, it’s not going to actually be repealed until after the midterms…according to what’s in the repeal now, it could technically be decades before LGBT men and women are allowed to serve openly). So count this as a win for Pelosi – who in my opinion has a much bigger sac than our President, and a win for the people who’ve been fighting so hard and standing in the streets screaming for our equality. That’s who this is a (very small) win for.
Please keep standing up and saying something and don’t let this repeal stop you from pushing for your equality.
Lanjier
Every gay American has a duty to criticize their government if they are treating them as a legal sub-class. And that is what the government is doing to us. There is a political party in control of both houses of Congress and the presidency. The Democratic Party.
Complaining is your duty. If you always praise your government, you are standing in the way of progress like the HRC.
So stop creaming “Leave Britney Alone” for Obama and wipe those tears out of you eyes.
DR (the real one, not the guy who made post #12)
The big problem is that a lot of folks are seeing this as a win without considering what was removed from the repeal bill or the limbo GLB servicemembers are left in.
As noted by a couple of other posters, the repeal proposed by Murphy contained explicit language in the form of a non-discrimination clause. This does not.
There is no moratorium on discharges.
There is no deadline for the studies.
There is no deadline for the Sec’y of Defense or the CJCOS to sign off on this.
Power to determine the policy regarding GLB servicemembers reverts back to the Pentagon upon everyone signing off.
This is the equivalent of an executive order, and as the Palm Center noted, without the force of a repeal law behind it, can be rescinded by a future president.
Queerty is not off the mark calling this a watered-down effort. That’s exactly what it is no matter how Gay, Inc. wants to spin it.
tjr101
Will the closetted Republicans at Queerty please come out!
Jason_Activist
Dan Choi and GetEQUAL did this. It’s not perfect, but it the first real action in decades.
We have been taught a big lesson: we must DEMAND respect and we must irritate our enemies with direct actions that scare them.
With Dan Choi’s hunger strike the whole world will begin demanding that we get real “repeal” of DADT.
GetEQUAL is going to repeal DOMA now. Probably before the end of the year.
Demanding = Rights
Brutus
Another current Queerty headline: “Watch Republican Reps. Louise Gohmert + Todd Akin Crap All Over DADT’s Repeal”
I’m pretty sure Queerty is doing a great job of that all by themselves.
AJ
I really appreciate Queerty’s vigilance on gay rights. It’s important to be vigilant and get mad. I do think however there should be a recognition that progress has always been slow and it’s never perfect. Obama’s trying to negotiate a lot of different parties, some of which would rather nothing happen.
Landmark legislation we love today like Social Security were unacceptable at first by today’s standards. From Wikipedia:
“Most women and minorities were excluded from the benefits of unemployment insurance and old age pensions. Employment definitions reflected typical white male categories and patterns. Job categories that were not covered by the act included workers in agricultural labor, domestic service, government employees, and many teachers, nurses, hospital employees, librarians, and social workers. The act also denied coverage to individuals who worked intermittently.These jobs were dominated by women and minorities…Exclusions exempted nearly half the working population. Nearly two-thirds of all African Americans in the labor force, 70 to 80% in some areas in the South, and just over half of all women employed were not covered by Social Security.”
It’s important — necessary! — to point out flaws in progressive legislation. But it’s equally important to temper our anger with a sense of history.
Sine
@Jason_Activist:
Don’t get me wrong, I’m totally on board for all of that happening. Unfortunately, you’re completely deluded. DADT won’t even be repealed before the end of the year, much less DOMA.
They would’ve let Choi starve to death before he made a difference. GetStupid did nothing useful other than harass the president, even after he said multiple times he was on their side.
Activism is good and you can’t deny that it does bring attention to issues, but without the political side of the story and without the allies that we have in high places, including Obama, we wouldn’t have this.
It also takes a measure of compromise and doing things the long obnoxious way to bypass the protests of conservatives. The Dems may have “60 votes,” but a handful of those are conservative dems that don’t give a shit about our community and would happily shit on us along with the Republicans.
This may not be an outright repeal, but it is a repeal, and that’s more progress than any of us have seen in our lifetimes. It’s time to shut up and support ALL of the people that made this possible.
Hyhybt
@Mike: DOMA may be more important, but unlike DOMA, *this* has wide enough support to be passed. And remember how much a deciding factor knowing gay people is in determining whether straight people support things like gay marriage…. and the fact that, in the military, you’re forced to get to know people *very* well that you wouldn’t associate with otherwise. Openly serving gays means less homophobic soldiers (sailors, etc) and later veterans, accelerating the percentage creep we’re all waiting on.
Justin_Activist
Don’t call us GetSTUPID, we are the ones making the difference. We have made more progress in 6 months that the rest of you did in 40 years. STFU.
Demanding = Rights.
Justin_Activist
@JamieMcG: This isn’t a “win” for anyone. You’re nuts.
counterpoll
@Justin_Activist: What happened to Jason_Activist?
I shall miss him. RIP Jason_Activist. We hardly knew ye.
princess.johnsonXIV
@tjr101:
haha
these types of gay guys/gals are calling themselves “libertarians” nowadays!
they are rocking back and forth like sibyl,
silently hoping for some kind of assassination or a sex scandal.
they are palpably frightened of success now.
what we learned this year is that at the end of the day
(or at the dawn of new civil rights victories)
obama’s public identification as african american is literally a game-changer
for too many fools who are also minorities(!)
silly rabbits!
the world is watching!
Rob Moore
Let’s not count the chickens before they hatch. This is not a done deal until it is passed by the full Senate and signed by Obama. If the GOP wins big enough majorities in Congress this fall, we will have this fight, again, in 2011. There are enough DINOs opposed to this for a GOP majority to succeed. All of us need to move to a state where we will be the majority and secede. We could form the country of Sparta.
Bill Perdue
A note to honest activists and leftists at Queerty. The Obots have had to explain, and couldn’t, Obama’s betrayals for so long that they’re out in droves trying to make hay over this latest failure, repeal of DADT.
Don’t worry, they’ll crawl back under their rocks soon.
In terms of the needs of working people and the GLBT communities Obama is a hopelessly failed ‘leader’. He’s in way over this head.
1) His wars are going badly. GI’s and marines are paying the price for his incompetence. Even General McChrystal, in charge of killing civilians in Afghanistan admits that “nobody is winning.”
2) In the 1990’s he was a supporter of LGBT rights, and now he’s the chief architect of the defeat of same sex marriage in California. His pigheaded christer appeal to bigots – ‘gawd’s in the” – reversed the polls against us and brought out catholic, mormon and southern baptist bigots by the hundreds of thousands, sealing our fate. He’s not our ‘fierce defender’, he’s our back stabbing betrayer.
3) His promised health care reform is just another giveaway to the insurance and pharmaceutical companies.
4) The Gulf oil spill is Obama’s Katrina. He and Bush stand condemned for their incompetence, for being lapdogs of the corporations and for their malign neglect of the interests of working people.
5) He passes out trillions to the looter class and has only draconian cuts in social programs for working people.
Obama is a Clinton clone. If he loses to Republicans in 2012 the only change we’ll see that that they’re more honest about hating GLBT folks.
Bill Perdue
If it turns out that Obama does ease the way for enlistment it’ll only prove that he’s getting desperate for more cannon fodder.
Don’t be a victim to make BP and Hiliburton richer. Don’t enlist. Don’t fight. Don’t translate.
Bill Perdue
@tjr101: wonder “Will the closetted Republicans at Queerty please come out!” They might, but since Obots are Republicans in drag they’ll soon jump back into their closets.
GetEQUAL by DEMANDING
@Bill Perdue: Much of what you say is true Bill, but you need to include activism. Dan Choi is leading by example and is willing to die for us. We need a revolution. We need marches and rallies and sit-ins and a lot more volume.
Nobody is going to give us our equality. We have to demand it and take it – with force if necessary. It’s ours for the taking.
Bill Perdue
@GetEQUAL by DEMANDING: I’ve been emphasizing activism for years at Queerty and other blogs. I’ve been an activist since the war against the Vietnamese. I absolutely don’t support enlistment in the US militry to kill and be killed for Haliburton and BP, to be a tool in the campaign to kill Iraqis and steal their oil.
I agree that we need a nationwide campaign of militant mass marches with carefully thought out (to avoid victimization) direct action as a supplement.
We should exclude the use of force except in self defense. Calling for violence is an invitation to Federal and local cops to bust your ass. And it’s unnecessary.
At the point when the struggles of LGBT folks, working people and minorities are sufficiently massive and united enough then ‘force’ becomes a moot point. At theat point we’ve won.
Don’t enlist. Don’t fight. Don’t translate.
Markie-Mark
Bill Perdue, you are right on. And Queerty is right on. The trolls from the Democratic Party are just on here to disrupt. And they are becoming increasingly shrill as more and more gays and straights are waking up from the Kool Aid.
GetEQUAL by DEMANDING
@Bill Perdue: Somehow we have to get people off their asses ind into the streets DEMANDING. Nothing comes from something without demands.
I am following Dan Choi and his willingness to risk his life for our rights. I can’t give up drinking, food would be very hard. but, I don’t have his courage or strength. I can march around and yell, thought. So, I do.
We’re not finished with Pelosi or Obama. We need to heckle them into some mission. We need to get angry, but not violent. No actually hitting, just threatening it, right?
Thank-you for helping people understand politics and who are real enemies are. It allows us to pick the right targets.
Bill Perdue
@GetEQUAL by DEMANDING: “We need to get angry, but not violent. No actually hitting, just threatening it, right?”
If you advise people to threaten public officials with violence then I’m going to assume you work for the FBI.
End of discussion.