ANGER AS OBAMA ADMINISTRATION DEFENDS DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL
LGBT groups are angry and perplexed by news that the Obama administration will continue to defend the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ ban on gays and lesbians in the military in the courts while working on its repeal.
According to the Log Cabin Republicans, the US Department of Justice is filing an emergency motion with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals pleading with the court to reconsider its recent order suspending the law.
“This latest manoeuvre by the President continues a pattern of doublespeak that all Americans should find troubling. All this does is further confuse the situation for our men and women in uniform,” said R. Clarke Cooper, Log Cabin Republicans Executive Director, combat veteran and captain in the United States Army Reserve.
The confusing move comes after it was reported last week that the US military would start accepting gay and lesbian recruits.
“Let me be clear – the president is asking the court for the power to continue threatening servicemembers with investigation and discharge, and the right to turn away qualified Americans from military service for no reason other than their sexual orientation,” said Cooper.
“It is shameful that a president who has taken credit for opposing the policy is taking extreme measures to keep it on life support,” he added.
Army Veteran and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis also commented on the reports about the Department of Justice’s plans.
“At SLDN, we are frustrated by this last-minute filing, which could well add more delay and confusion for service members. This development only serves to underscore the need for immediate certification and finality,” he said.
While ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ was repealed in December last year by the US Senate, the law has remained in force until training personnel on the issue is complete and a report confirming that the repeal will not negatively affect the military is accepted by the US government.
Biassed Article. This article has failed to report the whole truth behind this decision. I don’t necessarily agree with the motivation behind Obama’s request, I feel that it deserves to be included in this article.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk includes the following explaination:
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Tracy Schmaler, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said in a statement.“The department has filed a motion asking the Ninth Circuit to reconsider its order lifting the stay of the injunction on the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy to avoid short-circuiting the repeal process established by Congress during the final stages of the implementation of repeal.”
She added: “Senior military leaders are expected to make their decision on certifying repeal within the next few weeks.”
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My understanding is that there is a certain procedure that needs to be undertaken before the law can be repealed and this is proceeding, albeit rather slowly. What the court’s doing is bypassing some of the steps. All Obama’s office is doing is trying to prevent the court from doing this so that the repeal process can be completed normally.
If I had to compare this to our getting the Civil Unions Act. This would be the same as the courts authorising gay marriages directly after parliament passed voted for the bill but before it was ratified by the NCOP and before Thabo Mbeki could sign it into law. It’s not the normal course of action.
That’s their argument and from a bureaucratic point of view, it’s understandable.
What I don’t like about Obama’s decision is that it seems that he’s asked the courts not to force the military to unban the law because they’re still in the process of creating new policies and guidelines.
Seriously, what policies and guidelines take so long to make? Are they going to start having four sets of ablutions now? One for str8 men, one for str8 women, one for gay men (happy days), and one for gay women? I know it sounds ridiculous but I wouldn’t put it past the conservatives to something like that.