DADT Repeal Gets Underway As Senator Joe Lieberman Introduces Repeal Bill To Senate

Whilst Senator Joe Lieberman’s close relationship with John McCain in the last US Presidential election didn’t put him in the good books of many in the LGBT community, this week Lieberman has tried to make up for that somewhat by leading the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy (DADT) which prevents gays and lesbians from serving openly in the armed forces, by introducing the DADT repeal bill to the Senate.

Commenting on Lieberman introducing the bill Aubrey Sarvic, the executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, said:

“Today Sen. Lieberman made history. We applaud the Senator’s unwavering commitment to a strong national defense and civil rights. The 66,000 gay and lesbian service members should know we are one big step closer to ending the ban.”

Going to applaud the actions of Chairman Carl Levin for his role as an original cosponsor, Sarvis highlighted the importance of this as it will be only the second time Levin has acted to co-sponsor or co-sponsor legislation that went before his own committee, the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Effectively mirroring the companion bill introduced to the House of Representatives by Representative Patrick Murphy, the Senate bill differs in that it allowa for an extended period of time for the military to put the repeal into action following calls from the Pentagon for this to be included.

Making it clear this should not mean the repeal process is slowed down, Sarvis said it was important that Congress does it’s job and repeals DADT in 2010 while the Department of Defense works to look at how to put a repeal into action.

The introduction of the bill is occurring at a time when there is unprecedented levels of support for the DADT policy to be repealed not just within political circles, but also concerning the views of the population as a whole. Servicemen and women have also show their support with seventy-three percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans saying they are comfortable serving alongside gay comrades.

Photo by US Army Africa.