It's a beautiful and historic day for equality rights for LGBT citizens in America! The U.S. Senate has just voted 65 to 31 to repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' which was the policy adopted in the 1990s banning openly gay men and women from serving in the U.S. military. The law now goes to President Obama's desk for final approval, which it will get hopefully quickly.
My faith in Americans to do the right thing for their LGBT citizens has long been shaken, with all the recent referenda and votes to ban equal marriage. But today, it's great to see a victory for my American LGBT friends and others who support true equality.
A court ruling in Canada in the early 1990s led to the end of our ban on openly LGBT solders in the Canadian military. It's nice to see the Americans finally catch up with us on this important issue.
3 comments:
I thought it was 63-33?
They voted earlier to end the debate 63 to 33 (it needed 60 votes.) The final vote on the actual bill was 65 to 31.
I did for years in the Marine Corps and I am now an infantryman in the Oregon National Guard.
Its hard to take a stance on this issue one way or the other. I am a Christian and I believe that homosexuality is a sin (leviticus 18:22 among other versus). On the other hand, I don't believe that people should be discriminated on. If we discriminated on people who sin then everyone would be discriminated against. I think that gays should be able to serve and fight for their country. I do fear though that if someone was openly gay in an all male infantry company then there would be a lot of discrimination. This discrimination would hurt military morale and cohesion. Thus it would hurt the effectiveness of a military operation.
I grudgingly support the repeal.
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