Rep. Mary Bono Mack's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" FAIL

by Michael Jones · 2010-05-28 06:42:00 UTC
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Rep. Mary Bono MackThe morning after one of the most historic votes ever on LGBT legislation in the U.S. Congress — a repeal measure to eliminate the U.S. military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy — many eyes are looking at California Rep. Mary Bono Mack and wondering what the heck she was smoking that pushed her to vote against ending the military's discriminatory ban on gay and lesbian soldiers.

By means of introduction, Rep. Bono Mack is a moderate Republican from California who represents the state's 45th congressional district. That would be the district that covers just about all of Riverside County, and specifically the district that covers Palm Springs. And Palm Springs just happens to be one of the gayest cities on the planet, with a near 50 percent permanent gay population. In fact, Rep. Mary Bono Mack represents the largest LGBT population of any Republican in Congress.

Which is why her vote yesterday against repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is all the more troubling. With one vote, Rep. Bono Mack managed to tell a huge chunk of her constituents that they're not worthy enough to put their lives on the line for the United States. Talk about a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" FAIL.

In defending her vote, Rep. Bono Mack paid deference to what she said were military leaders pushing to delay a repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

“This vote represents exactly why people are frustrated with Washington — why request a review on how to make significant changes to military policy if politicians are not going to wait for the results?” Bono Mack said via a statement after her vote. “I care deeply about our men and women in uniform and believe it is essential that a thorough review be completed by our military commanders prior to Congress enacting such a sweeping change.”

But the legislation that the U.S. House voted on last night couldn't have been more deferential to military leaders. What did last night's vote do? It gave repeal power entirely to both the White House and the Pentagon — you know, the men and women in uniform that Rep. Bono Mack apparently cares so much about. The language passed last night said in no uncertain terms that repeal won't happen until the leaders at the Pentagon sign off on it.

Rep. Bono Mack may be trying to hide behind military deference in order to justify her vote, but there's simply no way around the fact that she sided with discrimination by voting against repeal last night. What's more, five Republicans in the U.S. House — Rep. Joseph Cao (Louisiana), Rep. Charlie Djou (Hawaii), Rep. Judy Bigger (Illinois), Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Florida), and Rep. Ron Paul (Texas) — sided with the Democratic majority in voting to eventually overturn "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Meaning that Rep. Bono Mack had the chance to stand with members of her own Party in striking down the military's ban on gay and lesbian troops, but chose not to.

Rep. Bono Mack has long had a record of supporting LGBT rights issues, and in many respects this is what has allowed her to keep her seat in an increasingly blue district. Her support for gay rights, not to mention some other progressive pieces of legislation, even resulted in CNN commentator and right-wing extremist blogger Erick Erickson snarkily employing his readers to call for Rep. Bono Mack to "be burned in effigy and voted out of office."

Perhaps Erickson and Rep. Bono Mack are enjoying a morning coffee of reconciliation today, bonding over the fact that she threw her LGBT constituents under a bus last night.

Here's one last bit of interesting news regarding Rep. Bono Mack. Guess who her opponent is this year? A man named Steve Pougnet, the current mayor of Palm Springs who is running fast and furious in polls and definitely within striking distance of Rep. Bono Mack. Pougnet is also openly gay, married, and raising children with his husband.

After last night's vote, Pougnet issued a statement saying that if he were in the halls of Congress, he'd have voted to end the military's ban on gay and lesbian troops.

"'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' is a discriminatory policy that wastes resources and has led to the dismissal of thousands of qualified, loyal service members," Pougnet said.

Wow. Now wouldn't it be interesting karma for Rep. Bono Mack if her vote to support discrimination last night led to her defeat by an openly gay, married man who is fathering two children with his spouse? Now that could be the political campaign story of 2010.

Photo credit: Rep. Mary Bono Mack's Web site

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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