Do or Die Time on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

by Michael Jones · 2010-09-13 15:28:00 UTC
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Less than eight weeks separate today from the 2010 midterm elections, where prognosticators and pundits are all predicting that Democrats will lose seats in both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. While eight weeks is a lifetime in politics, and anything is bound to change, it certainly seems like the next session of Congress is going to be more conservative than the current session of Congress.

Thus, the countdown to passing gay rights legislation has intensified, especially the defense authorization bill, which has a repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" tied to it.

The Washington Blade is out with a story today, noting that Sen. Harry Reid is moving forward with plans to schedule a vote on the bill next week. That's sooner than some (more conservative) Senators want, but as has been made painfully clear by groups like Servicemembers United (SU) and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), it's do or die time when it comes to getting a legislative repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" through Congress.

"We are going to take it the floor next week to see where the votes are,” an aide to Sen. Harry Reid said to the Blade. So what does this mean?

In short, it means that proponents of repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" need to muster up 60 votes in the U.S. Senate to prevent a filibuster. Some folks, including Sen. John "I was for repealing 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' before I was against it" McCain, have suggested they might pull the filibuster option out of their hat. But to do so, he'll need 40 other Senators to join him.

The announcement that Sen. Reid is scheduling the vote comes amidst a flurry of public pressure on the Senate to follow through with a repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Both SU and SLDN have been lobbying legislators hard over the summer, and today the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) took out a full-page ad in Politico calling for the U.S. Senate to move.

"We all understand the unfortunate reality of politics is that windows of opportunity don’t come around too often. Yet we find ourselves in a unique moment of possibility," HRC said in their ad. "We’re not naïve to the limited amount of time left for the Senate to address many competing demands. But that only heightens the urgency of not letting this moment pass us by."

Those are some wise words by HRC. Add to this pressure on the U.S. Senate to take up "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" by signing this petition here.  And don't let up. This is an issue we can win. Come November 2010, it shouldn't matter what the prognosticators and pundits say. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," should  be on its way out the door.

Photo credit: U.S. Army

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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