John McCain's War to Keep "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

John McCain has been in the U.S. Senate since 1987. During the course of the past twenty-three years, McCain has been a "maverick," and not been a "maverick." He's been involved in some shady banking deals, and railed against shady banking deals. And of course, he's been in favor of repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," and now, infamously, against repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

McCain's desire to keep "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" on the books sets him apart from almost every other Senator in the entire Congress. When the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee voted on a measure that attached repeal language to this year's defense authorization bill, Sen. McCain not only opposed the language, he went on record saying that he would do everything in his power to filibuster the defense spending bill.

Yes, that's right. McCain wants to hold up the entire defense budget for the next fiscal year, simply because it might mean the end of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" if the bill heads to the President's desk. (The repeal language crafted in the bill basically gives the President, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Secretary of Defense permission to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," once they see fit. All three have indicated they want to see the military's ban on gays and lesbians tossed out, though a timetable for repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" remains unclear.)

In response to Sen. McCain's last stand (as one might call it), the Human Rights Campaign has launched an action targeting every single member of the U.S. Senate. They're pushing Senators to move forward with the defense bill that includes language repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." As they put it, Sen. McCain's anti-gay vendetta against gay and lesbian servicemembers shouldn't hold up progress for the rest of the country.

"We've never had this much momentum to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" — the discriminatory law that forces gays and lesbians to live a lie if they want to serve their country," the Human Rights Campaign writes. "We need your help to drown them out and show the Senate that a majority of Americans want this law off the books — once and for all."

So give them some help. Add your voice to the thousands who have already pressured their Senator to pass this bill. The end of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" has never been nearer. And while Sen. McCain may have some bonafide military chops, he's dead wrong when it comes to the issue of discrimination inside America's Armed Services.

Don't let Sen. McCain have the last word. Let the 14,000 troops who have been booted out of the U.S. military because they're gay, lesbian or bisexual — not to mention the tens of thousands of other men and women who never enlisted because of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" — have the final say, by ending one of the meanest forms of legalized discrimination embedded in U.S. law.

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