DADT is dead #15

My silence lately has been mostly due to the worst cold I've had in a decade, and I just couldn't get motivated to write something -- plus, the awful idea of extending tax cuts for the very rich just added to my feeling dispirited.

So, I'm going back to the topic that may, just may, turn out to be -- at long last -- a happy success. And, Richard, please, this time . . . don't rain on the parade by greeting my happy report by asking: don't I fault Obama for not fighting harder for it? Let one happy occasion go by without your obligatory trashing him who has disappointed you. If this moment of success comes, let's just savor it. It has been a long, hard process -- and DADT is only a small part of a much longer and harder road for gay people.

And, of course, the homophobic old men in the Republican party could pull defeat out of the jaws of victory here. Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert said in the House debate that letting gays serve openly would be a threat to the existence of America. "He Who Shall Not Be Named" doestn't go quite that far -- just that we shouldn't introduce such big changes in a time of war.

Why does anyone pay any attention to him anymore? On this issue, look who disagrees with him: Commander in Chief Obama and VP Biden, Sec. of Defense Gates, Chm of the Joint Chiefs Mullen, top general in Afghanistan Petraeus, Chm of Joint Chiefs and President when DADT was instituted, Gen. Colin Powell, and Pres. Bill Clinton.

Poor shrinking McNobody; he is so small compared to them-- no integrity and no credibility left.

Consider this, in addition to the simple fact that repealing DADT is the RIGHT thing to do:

1. All those top military leaders think it should be repealed, now.

2. Even the head of the Marines, who is himself opposed, said that if it is repealed the Marines will adapt and, in their characteristic fashion, do the best job of all in doing so. No defiant, undermining spirit there.

3. Something like 77% of Americans now believe it should be repealed.

4. Something like 70% of those 140,000 who responded to a poll of military and their families said it would pose little or no problem.

5. On Wednesday, the House passed repeal by 250-175.

6. Steney Hoyer, the #2 Dem in the House, has said that his counterparts in the Senate say that they now have sufficient votes to pass it there.

So: This would be a very significant, historic milestone in gay rights -- to have Congress voluntarily -- without court order (although there are signs that would be coming soon), they will have voted in favor of letting gay men and lesbians serve openly in our military organizations.

That is HUGE.

Ralph