Don't Ask, Don't Tell Update, by Joan Darrah

On January 12, RADM Jamie Barnett, USN(Ret), MCPOCG Vince Patton, USCG (Ret), and CAPT Joan Darrah, USN (Ret) of MVUC, and RADM Alan Steinman, USPHS/USCG (Ret) and former USAF SSgt David Hall briefed President-elect Obama's Transition Team on the issue of Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT).  The five members of the Transition Team whom we met with were all part of the staff managing Department of Defense and national security issues.  President elect Obama’s position on DADT as outlined on his web site, www.change.gov, is:

“Repeal Don't Ask-Don't Tell: Barack Obama agrees…that we need to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The key test for military service should be patriotism, a sense of duty, and a willingness to serve. Discrimination should be prohibited. The U.S. government has spent millions of dollars replacing troops kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation. Additionally, more than 300 language experts have been fired under this policy, including more than 50 who are fluent in Arabic. Obama will work with military leaders to repeal the current policy and ensure it helps accomplish our national defense goals.”

The Transition Team made it clear that President-elect Obama is firmly committed to repeal of the current law. We all left the meeting very encouraged by everything that we heard and very optimistic that the end of DADT is finally in sight. However, there is still work to be done.  

As most of you know, during the 110th Congress, there was a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives (H.R. 1246) that called for replacing DADT with a policy of non-discrimination; 149 Representatives signed on as co-sponsors, including Jim Moran.  A new bill will be introduced shortly (bills do not carry over from one Congress to another) and a similar bill will be introduced in the Senate in a couple of months. We must all reach out to Senators Webb and Warner and ask them to support repeal of DADT. We should also express our appreciation to Representative Moran for his strong support.

Ideally, it would be great if each of you would send a personal letter or e-mail to our Senators and Representatives. However, in addition, we are going to ask all of you to sign a petition to send to Senators Webb and Warner and Representative Moran. These petitions will be available in the commons on Sundays in early February. Thank you all for your continued support, because of it, I am optimistic that repeal will be a reality in this Congress.