ADVOCATE: The U.S. House of Representatives approved a stand-alone bill Wednesday to repeal the 17-year-old law barring lesbian and gay service members from serving openly in the military by a vote of 250-175.
Rep. Patrick Murphy, who championed the repeal effort, said those who oppose repeal had exhausted “every excuse under the sun.”
“Enough!” Murphy said from the House floor. “Our troops are the best of the best and they deserve a Congress that puts their safety and their collective national security over rigid partisan interests and a closed-minded ideology.”
The bill, introduced Tuesday afternoon by Rep. Murphy and House majority leader Steny Hoyer, will now be sent over to the Senate for consideration. Its language is identical to that of the legislation introduced Friday by Sens. Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins, and its “privileged” status will allow it to bypass several procedural hurdles and move directly to a vote that would take 60 senators for passage. >>> Kerry Eleveld | Wednesday, December 15, 2010
I must say it would be so refreshing if the US military were to resolve this issue once and for all, and abolish DADT and give gays full rights in the military. There really isn't any excuse for not allowing them to serve in the military any longer. It's all bigotry.
If gays are allowed to serve, they should be held to the highest standards, and will have to comply with norms of behaviour that everyone else has to comply with. That goes without saying, actually.
But to throw gays out of the military simply because they have a different sexual orientation, and even when they have behaved impeccably, is simply not acceptable in this day and age.
Gays perform perfectly well in the militaries of other countries, notably Israel's military, Germany's, the UKs, Australia's, Switzerland's, Holland's, etc. So what makes the US military folk think that the US military is very different, even extraordinary?
Within a short period of time, the whole matter will die down, and those serving will come to accept the gays they serve with. Young people today are not like the bigots of earlier generations. They are far more open-minded.
It is to be hoped that this time they really will vote for change, really will vote for fairness. – © Mark
This comment also appeared here
