Gates to Congress: Toss Out DADT

Defense Secretary Robert Gates sent a strong and clear message to Congress on Tuesday: Get rid of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays and lesbians, and do it pronto. The reason for his sense of urgency, however, didn’t have so much to do with social justice as it did with avoiding more interventions from the courts on the issue. –KA

San Jose Mercury News:

Gay troops can serve openly in the armed forces without harming the military’s ability to fight, the Pentagon’s top leaders said Tuesday, declaring the 17-year-old “don’t ask, don’t tell law” should be scrapped and pointing to a new survey to show most troops won’t mind.

President Barack Obama, citing the troop poll, urged the Senate to repeal the ban before adjourning in the next few weeks, but there is still no indication GOP objections can be overcome with just a few weeks left in the postelection lame-duck session. Still, the survey did put new pressure on Republican opponents, led by Sen. John McCain, who say efforts to repeal the law are politically motivated and dangerous at a time of two wars.

[…] Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the ban on openly gay military service “requires people to lie,” and he called for quick Senate action.

“We spend a lot of time in the military talking about integrity and honor and values. Telling the truth is a pretty important value in that scale,” Gates said as he released the Pentagon study showing that most people currently in uniform don’t care about the ban.

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