Senate to Hold DADT Hearings

Dear PJR - I'm glad some of your previous postings have been removed. So why don't you get over yourself and come out of the closet.

pjr whon't you please post your phone number and address? pretty please!

Jeff, 20,000 additional troops means what, about 100 - 200 gay troops max? That makes DADT critical? Hardly! Let's not forget most of those gays DON'T want to serve openly gay, as in spite of the OUT crazed faction of the gay agenda community, some gays are just like most heteros, and think it's nobody's damn business, so DADT is a red herring issue! I'd even bet dollars to donuts if there was a way to have just gays vote on DADT, they'd frankly vote it down. Reason being that once the gay agendaers get things like openly gay approved, that means to gay agendaers all gays MUST serve OUT and openly gay! That's just not how most gays want to live their life, as some fundraising example posterchild for GLAAD, instead of truly being measured solely for their military career accomplishments, no sexuality required!!

Wake up and smell the ass-kisser! Gillibrand is getting these hearings -- largely meaningless if no bill is under consideration -- to help ensure her election next year. When she represented a rural upstate district, she ignored LGBT issues, fought for the right to bear arms, and took other stands sure to offend urban Democrats. Since her Senate appointment, she's demonstrated the spine of a jelly fish and the ethics of a shark, turning 180 degrees on almost every important issue in hopes of gaining support in the City and suburbs. She'll say whatever it takes to gain power, and I will not vote for such a shamelessly unprincipled pol. Rep. Carolyn Maloney -- a friend on LGBT issues for years -- is weighting a primary challenge, and it could get bloody here in the City.

As a NYC Democrat I was somewhat dismayed when Gov. Patterson appointed Gillibrand to serve out Hillary Clinton's term, but in the short time she's been in the Senate Gillibrand has done 100 times more than Clinton on LGBT issues. DADT is done for, but the game has to be played out ... and high-profile Senate hearings are the next move. We'll have the 60 votes sooner than you think.

This is a priority as Gates has just asked for 20,000 additional troops and 13,000 have been released under DADT. Why recruit more when you're actively throwing some out?

I am one of the silent partners of someone in the service. I am so looking forward to the day that we can live our lives without the blinds drawn and looking over our shoulders in public. Unfortunatly the wheels of our Government move slow and the ones that squeek get the oil. I can only do so much with out drawing attention. It's up to everyone else to keep up the push and the noise. I hear many GLBT that don't care as much about this issue becuase they don't want to serve anyway. I look at it this way...if 70% of the public is behind gays serving openly...and 70% of service members say they don't care if they serve with gays (up from only 16% in 93)...with that kind of support if we can't get DADT repealed...then we are a far, far cry from geting rid of DOMA or any kind of federal protection for our relationships. Think what a HUGE boost this would be in the right direction on thoes issues! We need a huge victory for human rights. This one should be easy....but of course it won't.

This is good. Appointing this woman to replace Hillary Clinton when she became Secretary of State is one of the few good things our well meaning but exceedingly inept Governor has done since taking office by accident when the notoriously heterosexual Elliot Spitzer was forced to resign in a prostitution scandal. Gillibrand has a can-do reputation, supports marriage equality & is pro-choice, and endorsed by the NRA. Hopefully she & Ted Kennedy will pull it off!

It kept saying there is no bill to be voted on but is there not the (H.R. 1283) Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2009? If they pass that wont that be a step toward getting rid of DADT and in doing so get a Senate bill created and then getting Obama to sign it? And how about putting in his executive order in stopping further military personal from being fired? I'd like to see that happen.

More hearings? Can't we just replay the hearings from last summer and move on to get legislation passed? The 65,000 gay and lesbian service members have been silently waiting for 15 years while conservative forces have controlled the legislative and executive branches, making a DADT repeal impossible. This whole game of kicking the can further down the road with more hearings and discussion is completely disrespectful to the soldiers, sailors, and airmen that continue to be forced into lies, deceit, and hidden lives just so they can serve their country. We need to accelerate the action in Congress here. If we lose seats in the mid-term elections (a very real possibilty with unemployment continuing to rise and economic recovery a long way off), we will have squandered our window of opportunity to effect meaningful change. The time to act on DADT is now. No more delay.