JoeMentum Behind Repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

by Michael Jones · 2010-01-29 05:53:00 UTC
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Joe LiebermanHere's one thing that shouldn't drive progressives crazy about Sen. Joe Lieberman: he supports President's Barack Obama's call to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in 2010. Sen. Lieberman, the chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs committee, said that it's time we judge members of the military by how they serve, and not by who they love.

"It just seems to me you ought to judge a member of our military by how they perform in the military and not by their sexual orientation," Sen. Lieberman said, adding that he voted against "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" back in the early 1990s, when it was originally adopted.

Cue up the JoeMentum. Seriously, if Joe Lieberman is even on board with repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," you know that this policy has reached its breaking point. But that position puts Sen. Lieberman at odds with the man he endorsed for President in 2008 -- Sen. John McCain. The former GOP standard-bearer said minutes after President Barack Obama's State of the Union address that the military should keep "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in place, and continue to fire soldiers who are open about their sexual orientation.

Meanwhile, Defense Department officials announced yesterday that they will be presenting a plan before Congress on Tuesday of next week outlining how they intend on implementing Obama's call to end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The plan will be presented by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who actually applauded during the President's State of the Union line on repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

Gates' proposal won't be a comprehensive legislative strategy on how to repeal the policy, but will instead outline the preliminary steps being taken inside the military to run with a repeal once it's introduced in Congress.

Outlining preliminary steps are good, but 2010 better see more than just preliminary movements on ending this bad law -- one of the only official vehicles of discrimination written into policy still remaining. As Lt. Dan Choi, the Arab linguist who was discharged from the military because he refused to lie to his peers and superiors about his sexual orientation, said, the longer "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" remains on the books, the less safe we all are.

"I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. National security means many things, but the thing that makes us secure in our nation and homes is love," Lt. Choi said. "As I was reminded again when I attended the historic Prop 8 trial, what makes me a better soldier, leader, Christian and human being is love."

Tough to argue with that sentiment. And it's tough to argue that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" needs to remain on the books.

Now if we could just convince Joe Lieberman about that public option thing ...

Photo credit: hood.army.mil

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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