Gates urges Congress to repeal gay ban now

[ruggerson]

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Congress should act quickly, before new members take their seats, to repeal the military's ban on gays serving openly in the military.

He, however, did not sound optimistic that the current Congress would use a brief postelection session to get rid of the law known as "don't ask, don't tell."

"I would like to see the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" but I'm not sure what the prospects for that are," Gates said Saturday, as he traveled to defense and diplomatic meetings in Australia.

Unless the lame-duck Congress acts, the repeal effort is considered dead for now.

The current, Democratic-controlled Congress has not acted to lift the ban, which President Barack Obama promised to eliminate. In his postelection news conference Wednesday, Obama said there would be time to repeal the ban in December or early January, after the military completes a study of the effects of repeal on the front lines and at home.

With Republicans taking control of the House in January, and with larger margins in the Senate, supporters of lifting the ban predict it will be much more difficult.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101107/ap_on_re_as/as_election_gates

[terrya]

1. "but I'm not sure what the prospects for that are"

They're already setting this up for failure.

I'll call my Senators, Durbin again, and Kirk about this. Mark Kirk will, apparently, take office in December. It's ominous, though, that the Democrats in the Senate have already lost a sure vote for repeal in the Senate. Kirk hasn't said whether he supports repeal.

[Davis_X_Machina]

2. He doesn't actually mean it, though. You can tell.

And the House didn't actually mean it when it passed the legislation in the late Spring.

And Obama didn't mean it when he called for repeal last week.

They'll mean it when John Aravosis tells me they mean it, and not before.

[terrya]

4. There's open opposition in the Joint Chiefs of Staff

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheat-sheet/item/top-marine-keep-anti-gay-policy/dont-tell/?om_rid=Dj9HWA&om_mid=_BM1rXuB8VjgTah

[Davis_X_Machina]

6. Which might....

...conceivably explain why the legislative route, and not the executive-order route, is the administration's choice of means to that end.

Unless you're assuming bad will and duplicity going in, that is.

[patricia92243]

3. So, Obama is the one blocking everything - the very person that promised reform. He doesn't seem to

realize it makes his credibility zero.

[polichick]

5. Could've just let the courts handle it - this is crazy. nt

[denimgirly]

7. Yea Good luck with that...Democrats will finally have their REAL excuse in January so "Ssshush"!