Democratic Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday that he would support a
measure being considered by some senators that would
put an 18-month moratorium on investigations and discharges of
gay soldiers in the military. But Reid said he would take the
potential amendment to the Department of Defense
reauthorization bill one step further.
"I would make it
permanent," he added, suggesting that he would permanently
suspend discharges. "We're having trouble getting
people into the military and I don't think that we should
turn down anybody that's willing to fight for our country,
certainly [not] based on sexual orientation."
Reid's comments
gave a boost to an amendment that Sen. Kirsten
Gillibrand is considering offering to the DOD
legislation that would suspend investigations of soldiers
suspected to be gay -- thereby stopping discharges of soldiers
under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy -- until
the end of the 111th Congress.
A spokesman for
Gillibrand said Monday that the New York
Democrat "wholeheartedly supports" full repeal of
the military's gay ban. "This is one avenue she would
consider pursuing if there is sufficient support," said Matt
Canter.
Which is still a big
"if" at the moment since Gillibrand would have to
find 60 votes over a two-week span in which the Senate
is consumed with climate change legislation, health reform,
and the confirmation hearings of U.S. Supreme Court
nominee Sonia Sotomayor.
But LGBT organizations
generally favor the strategy.
"We are encouraging
Senator Gillibrand to explore her options and to reach out to
the other senators in the process," said Aubrey Sarvis,
executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, an
organization that lobbies for repeal of the military's "don't
ask, don't tell" policy.
While Sarvis admitted
the strategy is a "long shot," he noted that several other
senators are also mulling the concept. "What's important
here is that we have a small core group that's considering
doing this," he said, declining to name specific
senators.
A "don't ask, don't
tell" repeal bill has never been introduced in the U.S.
Senate, which means there's no point of reference on support
for repeal. Gillibrand's potential measure would be even
more of a wild card because it does not amount to full repeal
but rather a temporary cessation of the policy. On the one
hand, it could attract the senators who are leaning toward full
repeal but want more time to study the long-term implications.
On the other, senators who want to overturn the policy entirely
might view the measure as an inadequate fix.
But Sarvis said it's
one way to stop the discharges while a more thorough review
process ensues.
"This would keep the
pressure on Congress and the White House to vote on full
repeal," Sarvis said.
Sen. Carl Levin of
Michigan, the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, and
Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, chairman of the House Armed
Services Committee, have both said they won't take action on
full repeal until they've conferred with Defense secretary
Bob Gates, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the undersecretary of
Defense for Personnel and Readiness, who has yet to be
nominated and will be charged with managing "don't ask,
don't tell."
The Human Rights
Campaign signaled cautious support for the idea. "HRC
believes that this temporary repeal amendment should only be
offered and voted on if we are confident that there are
sufficient votes to advance the issue of permanent repeal of
Don't Ask, Don't Tell," said HRC legislative director
Allison Herwitt. "It is not yet clear that threshold can be
achieved this week."
The following language
is what SLDN has proposed could be attached to the DOD
reauthorization bill in order to temporarily suspend
investigations:
"Directs the
Secretary of Defense to instruct the Secretaries of each of the
armed services that there may be no investigations of or
inquiry into, of any administrative action relating to, conduct
described in 10 U.S.C § 654(b), 'Policy concerning
homosexuality in the armed services,' until the end of the
111th Congress, provided that, this shall not limit the
authority of the Secretaries of the armed services with respect
to conduct that would violate the Uniform Code of Military
Justice."
Sarvis said the general
counsel's office at both the White House and the Department of
Defense have the language, but he has not yet received feedback
from them.
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