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Meister applauds Gates announcement to stop enforcing DADT Calls decision a step in the right direction
March 26, 2010
“Common sense and common decency are two phrases that Secretary Gates used to describe the new rules designed to soften enforcement of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. The two phrases sum up a brave effort by the military to scale back the nonsensical policy to keep gays in the closet or kick them out of the military. I applaud Secretary Gates for making progress toward eliminating Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. However, the steps taken by Secretary Gates do not go far enough to end the discriminatory policy.
I have been on the record since last fall that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell does not take an act of Congress to repeal. I was nothing short of elated when President Obama promised to move forward with DADT’s demise during the State of the Union address, and today I commend Secretary Gates for taking a small step toward putting the civil rights of our military first, and the hatred of the divisive right second. However, the policy must be put to an end. I call on President Obama to take the next step and cease enforcement of DADT by executive order.
I am hopeful that today serves as the starting point from which our nation’s leaders will move forward with legislation that prohibits enforcement of discriminatory policies in this country which blatantly violate the civil rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals.
The fight for gay rights is a fight for civil rights: Sexual orientation does not make a citizen any more or less of an American, neither should it strip someone of his or her rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in this country, especially if that pursuit includes the honor to serve in the armed forced.
Last year when Republican U.S. Senate candidate Andy Martin accused his opponent Congressman Mark Kirk of being gay, it illustrated the perverse lengths that people will go to grab headlines and the gravity of the charge that was leveled. It was a teachable moment for all of us.
Rather than subject Kirk to the witch-hunt to out alleged gays in the military that already has cost our country an estimated $1.2 billion, I used the irony of the moment as an opportunity to illustrate the injustice of DADT. I called upon President Obama to use his powers and Commander-in-chief to suspend all enforcement of DADT by issuing an executive order. Moreover, I asked that Secretary Gates encourage Congress to address the discriminatory policy that has forced more than 13,000 upstanding men and women out of the military, simply because they were honorable citizens and told the truth. I hope that Democrats and forward-thinking Republicans will have the courage to follow suit.
Finally, the U.S., the leader of the free world, today can look forward to its eventual exit from the ranks of the only three remaining closed-minded countries that continue to enforce the hypocritical policy of banning gays from their militaries, and will soon join the other 25 NATO countries who allow their citizens to serve, regardless of their sexual orientation.
