A Midwestern DADT Repeal Effort

With the clock ticking on repealing "don't ask, don't tell" during the congressional lame-duck session, representatives with Servicemembers Legal Defense Network are pushing for public support in Ohio and Indiana, seeking to influence senators who may be key votes for a legislative end to the policy.

Indiana senator Richard Lugar and outgoing Ohio senator George Voinovich are among 14 senators identified by SLDN as lawmakers crucial to repealing the 1993 law as part of the defense spending bill. On Tuesday, Maj. Gen. Dennis J. Laich and Maj. Mike Almy, who was discharged under the policy in 2006, spoke at a Dayton, Ohio rally; Laich will speak at another rally in Bloomington, Ind., on Thursday (click here for details on the event).

"Sen. John McCain wants repeal language stripped out of the defense bill so he is not forced to take an on-the-record vote against funding the troops, and he wants the Democrats to give in to his outrageous demands," SLDN executive director Aubrey Sarvis said in a statement.

"We have to stand up against this bullying. Repeal advocates must urge their senators to call up the defense bill as reported out of the Armed Services Committee and pass it before the Senate goes home for the year, and it is important that repeal supporters in Ohio and Indiana do so this week," Sarvis said.