Matt Yglesias

Democratic Leaders Say DADT Is Someone Else’s Problem

Harry Reid (official portrait)

The Advocate reports that Senate leader Harry Reid (D-NV) doesn’tanticipate doing anything to repeal the military’s unfair “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy of discriminating against gay and lesbian servicemembers:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid speaking at a press conference Monday said he has no plans to introduce a bill to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell” in the Senate.

“I haven’t identified any sponsors,” he said. “My hope is that it can be done administratively.”

Meanwhile, the administration’s view is that Obama shouldn’t do anything and it’s up to congress to change the law. It’s a neat paradox, but hard to escape the conclusion that the issue of fairness and equality here is not being taken very seriously. Everyone in the castle favors DADT repeal but it just can’t be done.

Almost Seventy Percent Support Allowing Gays to Serve in the Military

Kevin Drum comments on the latest polling on gays in the military:

There’s a rule of thumb that says social policies are resistant to change until they garner two-thirds support from the public. Allowing gays to serve openly in the military has now officially passed that point. That means it’s safe to keep your campaign promise and act, Mr. President.

I wrote about the administration sad inaction on this front a little while back for The Daily Beast. Recall, however, that there is a congressional element to this. So if you’re upset about the status quo, don’t just get upset at the White House, get upset at your House member and your Senators too. Given an adequate volume of complaining, people will do the right thing here, but it’s obvious that there’s a kind of vague preference to just let this slide.

A Full Plate is No Excuse for Discrimination

Robert Gates’ statement that we shouldn’t expect the Obama administration to fulfill its pledge to end Don’t Ask Don’t Tell anytime soon is highly disappointing:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates says both he and President Barack Obama have “a lot on our plates right now.” As Gates puts it, “let’s push that one down the road a little bit.”

It’s simply the nature of the military that this “a lot on our plates right now” excuse will almost always be available. In retrospect, the 1990s were a period of relative peace and quiet for the military, but at the time it was seen as a stressful period of multiple deployments (to Haiti, Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia) around the world mixed with efforts at containment in the Gulf and the Korean peninsula. The Joint Chiefs are never going to say “eh . . . we don’t really have much going on these days.”

Meanwhile, racial desegregation of the military actually required a large number of active steps and was successfully carried out near the peak of Cold War tensions. The biggest step toward ending discrimination against gays and lesbians in the military would be the passive step of just not discriminating against them. Gay and lesbian soldiers are already serving. Gates could just decide that with as much on his plate as he has at the moment, he’ll make sure we stop persecuting them.

Jim Moran Stands Up for Equality

Via Robert Farley, the DADT madness continues despite the new president, and thankfully Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) is trying to do something about it:

The Army fired 11 soldiers in January for violating the military’s policy that gay service members must keep their sexuality hidden, according to a Virginia congressman. Democratic Rep. Jim Moran said he has requested monthly updates from the Pentagon on the impact of the policy until it is repealed.

In a statement released on Thursday, Moran said the discharged soldiers included an intelligence collector, a military police officer, four infantry personnel, a health care specialist, a motor-transport operator and a water-treatment specialist.

“How many more good soldiers are we willing to lose due to a bad policy that makes us less safe and secure?” asked Moran, a member of the House panel that oversees military spending.

As Farley says, this is a smart approach from Moran—illustrating, in detail, the practical costs the military is incurring through this discriminatory policy. Meanwhile, the Obama administration is slow-walking repeal of the policy in order to try to demonstrate that it’s listening respectfully to military concerns and turning its attention first to strategic issues in Iraq and Central Asia before focusing on DADT. At the same time, Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) has introduced a worthy bill to allow for equality in military service. At this point, top commanders ought to be able to see the handwriting on the wall and basically cut this nonsense out. Everyone knows that equal opportunities to serve is coming around the corner, and it doesn’t help anyone to drum out the last few dozen gay and lesbian military volunteers just before the buzzer.

Rep Tauscher: “Times Have Changed Dramatically” and It’s Time to End DADT

Rep Ellen Tauscher has been getting kicked around on the blogs a bit for her stance on letting bankruptcy judges modify mortgages, but she also got in the news yesterday by unveiling legislation aimed at ending the unfair “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in the military. Time has proven DADT to be a fundamentally unworkable compromise that reduces military effectiveness while falling far short of the providing equal rights and opportunities. She talks a bit about the issue here:

On the politics, she’s right to observe that “times have changed dramatically” and that this is relevant. But I do think it’s important to be clear that there was no past time when this was a good policy, there was only a past time when it was politically inconvenient to do the right thing.