http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/12/brown-downplays-yes-vote-on-dadt.php?ref=fpaTPM caught up with Sen Scott Brown (R-MA), one of six Republicans to vote for DADT repeal today. He seemed to seek to downplay his role in helping the ban end.
Asked if he was involved in pushing more GOPers to vote aye on repeal, Brown said "no."
"It's just another vote," Brown said as a staffer hustled him downstairs.
JK press release
John Kerry Applauds Senate Action to Repeal "Don’t Ask Don’t Tell"
“No longer will we turn away patriotic gay Americans who are willing to die for our country.”
“No longer will we turn away patriotic gay Americans who are willing to die for our country. The military has spoken and now at last the Senate has acted. Finally the Senate listened to the Pentagon, the troops on the ground, and even the architects of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, General Powell and Senator Nunn, who said a change in policy will do nothing to affect unit cohesion or their ability to carry out their mission. The military remains the great equalizer. Just like we did after President Truman desegregated the military, we’ll someday look back and wonder what took Washington so long to fix it.”
A decorated combat veteran, Senator Kerry has long advocated lifting the ban on gays serving in the military and opposed the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy since its inception. In 1993, Kerry testified against the ban on gays in the military before Chairman Sam Nunn and Ranking Member Strom Thurmond’s Senate Armed Services Committee, and he has advocated for and co-sponsored every effort to repeal this discriminatory policy ever since.