Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Have Any Excuses Anymore
Of course, Republicans in the Senate are going to block any repeal of DADT. Their putrid lie that they were just waiting for the Pentagon report won't make a goddamn bit of difference. We can demonstrate hypocrisy after hypocrisy, and it won't change a thing. Here's Alabama's Jeff Sessions in September on filibustering a DADT repeal: "The Senate’s consideration of a repeal of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law is premature because it preempts the findings of our commanders on an important military policy...Repealing the policy now, before the Pentagon's study is complete, sends the message that election-year politics are more important than military readiness." Let's all hold our breath to see if Sessions says that he'll vote to allow debate now. They're already saying that the report didn't report on the right issues. They're saying that the bigots in the military might leave. They're saying anything they can to avoid pissing off the yahoos.
Because the truth of the matter is what conservatives fear more than anything is that society stops giving a fuck about denying gays and lesbians equality. Because if a good chunk of that 25-30% suddenly realizes that queers are people, too, and are worthy of living lives without getting beaten and mocked, then that might cause them to question other things that they've been force-fed their whole lives, like religion and Limbaugh. Or, at the very least, one of the right's fundraising and vote-getting foundations will be swept away.
And, despite how the Pentagon report tries to minimize it, President Harry Truman did issue an executive order in 1948 that integrated the military. What he also did was order a committee to be established to make it happen, not to study the effects of what if maybe perhaps please some nice Senators would allow it if we all beg and plead and offer to blow them on demand. Again, this was when over 60% of whites in the military opposed integration. In other words, he said, in essence, "If you can't stand the heat, go fuck yourself." Alas, such leadership does not exist in this cowardly age.
Sad but true.
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