Outrage on The Hill: Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) Speaks Out

by Angela Minor, 10,000 Couples 

September 27, 2010 -- Since the passage of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in 1993, over 14,000 patriotic personnel have been discharged based on the premise that lesbian and gay people are unfit for military service. The Senate had the opportunity this week to repeal this discriminatory policy once and for all, and they failed. Instead of allowing the process to go forth, Senate Republicans blocked the bill that not only contains DADT repeal language but a pay raise for military personnel. It certainly does not take a rocket scientist to deduce that this move is based solely on political motives.

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), the first non-incumbent, openly gay person to serve in Congress, made her position clear in the release received resently by 10ThousandCouples -- “It is outrageous that a handful of U.S. Senators has today thwarted the will of 75 percent of the American people by blocking the repeal of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy.”  The congresswoman has been joined by Representatives Barney Frank of Massachusetts, Jared Polis of Colorado and sixty-six other House Democrats in appealing to the president.

“President Obama, Defense Secretary Gates, the House of Representatives, and the court of public opinion have already determined that barring lesbians and gays from serving openly in the U.S. Armed Forces is not only discriminatory against this group of patriotic Americans, but it threatens our national security by depriving us of the skilled specialists we need to fight terrorism.” 

“It is shameful that bigotry and partisan, election-year politics have subverted fairness, justice, and good government in the Senate today.”

While Harry Reid (D-NV), Senate Majority Leader, has promised to bring up the bill after the November elections, there are steps the LGBT community can take right now. According to Joe Solmonese, President of the Human Rights Campaign, “We need to pursue every possible avenue to get rid of this law, and the Department of Justice may be our best hope.” His comments are based on the federal district court decision in Log Cabin Republicans v. United States that found DADT to be unconstitutional.

If the Department of Justice does not appeal the federal court’s decision, which is the normal course of events (but not mandatory) for the DOJ in these situations, then the federal court decision would stand. Simply stated – no more DADT!

In order to support this “inaction,” the HRC offers an action letter to Attorney General Eric Holder (DOJ) asking him not to appeal the federal court decision. The letter is pre-written and the process is simple! Please lend your support to end this atrocity of discrimination that affects every single day of our military families’ lives!