DADT repeal finally passed the Senate on a vote of 65-31. It has been too long in coming. I offer my gay friends and a hearty congratulations for your victory over Republican hatred and Religious Right intolerance. Thank you to the Democrats in the House and Senate, who worked tirelessly to push this through, with the help of a small handful of Republicans who feared voter backlash at home.
This was the right way to get it done. It is no longer subject to Presidential whim. Had Obama overridden it by executive order, in spite of the Constitutional problems with him doing so, a Republican President could have reinstated it with the stroke of a pen. Once Obama signs this, Republicans will make noise about repealing it to soak their hate-filled base for contributions, but actually doing it would be like putting toothpaste back in a tube.
It’s nice to win one for a change.
28 Responses to “Breaking: It’s Safe to Tell, At Last”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Isn’t it great? It’s about time! The Democrats actually got it done! And here’s to the 8 Republicans who crossed party lines to do the right thing. I am so excited right now I feel like popping open a bottle of champagne!
It was indeed historic, Mimi.
I am rather enjoying the thought of how the professional anti-gay fanatics must be wringing their hands over this.
But a few months from now, when DADT has been gone for a while and everyone has gotten used to the fact that some soldiers are openly gay, and it turns out there are no ill effects, those who insisted that repeal would lead to all sorts of bizarre problems will never come right out and say “we were wrong”. They’ll just quietly avoid the subject and move on to the next opportunity to block progress.
I’m not sure. Gay-hate is a powerful force among the Theocon and InsaniTEA wings of the Reich for stirring rage and mining campaign ca$h from them.
Hey finally some good news.
Frustrating to me, is Democrats have turned into Detroit Lions fans. Rather than expecting and demanding wins, we are happy if we don’t get shut out. So we finally got on the scoreboard, nice but I’d prefer to outscore the bad guys rather than being happy with a moral victory. We don’t need something to build on, which is a typical sports cliche losing teams use. We need(ed) affordable health care and (real) financial reform, and a CinC who isn’t a war supporter.
We got DADT, and a host of tiny earmarks and things which sound impressive when you make a list. Regularly people produce lists of all the wonderful things Obama has done. I found similar lists of accomplishments for GWB.
It’s analogous to filling a bag with spare change and jingling it around and claiming you’re rich. The fact that the Dems finally did something right is cool, yeah and I’m glad for it and trailing 51 – 3 rather than 51-0 is better but it still sucks.
Oso, I hear what you’re saying, but don’t you think slamming them when they actually do something right is a bad policy? When I was a kid and I did something good, my father used to hit me with a list of the bad things I had done instead of praising my accomplishment. That taught me doing right and doing wrong were no different, because the results were the same either way. Without this lesson I may have spared myself having to unlearn it and learn the opposite in prison. How about if we save dumping on them for times when they deserve it?
This is fan-f▼cking-tastic news – and they got it done the right way, too!
Amen!
I was elated when I heard this. I’m not even gay, but I know injustice when I see it. And I wish my gay uncle, Neil, and his partner, Jimmy, were still alive to see it. Jimmy served in the navy during WWII, so I’ll bet he was deep undercover then. He was gone before I had a chance to talk with both of them as an adult. I’m sorry I didn’t get to do that.
Marva, deep undercover indeed. Gay was a criminal offense in those days, so getting caught meant the stockade, where they were treated brutally.
Come’on, Oso, there’s nothing wrong with being glad something went the way it should, for once.
I know and you’re right Bee, it’s just that Democrats are like the children of an alcoholic parent. The DADT repeal was the “I’m sorry and it won’t happen again and this time I really mean it”.
OOPS! Bee beat me to it.
So reads the Epitaph of Sgt. Leonard Matlovich’s headstone (which can be viewed Here as seen in Washington’s Congressional Cemetery). Sgt. Leonard Matlovich was on the cover of “Time” magazine back on September 8, 1975 – over thirty-five years ago.
When the vote finally came today on DADT, as portrayed in the editorial cartoon at the headstone link the choices were
Straight
Gay
American
Clearly only the “American” box needed to be checked … and finally today it was! God Speed, Sgt.Leonard Matlovich … and RIP, for your prayers have finally been answered.
A fitting tribute.
Personally, I wish they had not repealed DADT. 😡
I wish they would have expanded DADT to include bisexuals and hetrosexuals. 😐
Then after about a year, the war profiteers and U.S. Military would not have enough soldiers left to continue on with their illegal, immoral, imperialist, genocidal, ecocidal wars OF terror. 😆
Kevin, that’s quite funny.
No thanks to Bushack HW Obama, something FINALLY got done.
It’s about damned time.
JR, this time he did the right thing.
I am glad DADT was repealed but have to wonder why they screw everything else and get away with it? My military sons never mentioned it. I have to wonder why they really are against start. I know they are good at making an argument out of nothing but it serves no purpose but to reinvent the cold war with Russia.
Strategic weapons generate huge profits for military contracvtors.
House passes 725 billion $ military spending bill – biggest ever, including ban on shutting down Guantanamo.
Wow guys, I guess I was wrong to be criticizing Obama. Let’s toss the confetti ! Along with allowing the settlers free reign in the territories as well as the tax cuts and drone attacks – sorry I rained on the Democratic parade.
I was wrong – allowing gays to kill Muslims too is a great victory, and I consider myself properly chastised.
Oso, I join you in condemning that bill, but not in condemning what they did right.
Woo-hoo – about frigging time! I wonder how many Repub heads they had to choke. 😈
The question might be, what is Lindsey-poo choking on? 😉
WOW! 725 BILLION dollars, almost 3/4 of a TRILLION. Do you know how many years of health insurance that would buy for the country? Instead, we spend it on killing machines. How far have we fallen?
too