Obama's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Repeal To Be Delayed, Report

President-elect Barack Obama will not move for months, and perhaps not until 2010, to ask Congress to end the military's decades-old ban on open homosexuals in the ranks, two people who have advised the Obama transition team on this issue say.

Repealing the ban was an Obama campaign promise. However, Mr. Obama first wants to confer with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and his new political appointees at the Pentagon to reach a consensus and then present legislation to Congress, the advisers said.

"I think 2009 is about foundation building and reaching consensus," said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. The group supports military personnel targeted under the ban.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[FaceYourFears]

Let the military service members vote, vets include.

[jmrozendaal]

Civilian control of the military is a principle of American government, so that vote, were it to occur, should include the entire electorate. But it should not occur. Voting on the rights of minorities is not democracy. It is tyranny of the majority, something that our constitution is constructed to prevent.

[reretiree]

Give Big O a break! He hasn't even served one day in office and he's being severely criticized for what he has or has not done. Let's evaluate his performance at the end of his term and then decide if he deserves to be reelected. If our instincts were correct he will do the right thing. If not, throw the bum out!

[OCaptainMercaptan]

I've reached a point where I can barely stand to read the comments on this site.

Half of you have given up on Obama already, and he hasn't even taken office. Give me a break!

Campaign promises, while somewhat infamous for their flimsiness, are not generally given a timeline. Obama has four years (some 200 times the amount of time that has transpired between the election and now) to make good on his promises.

MODA and DATD are reprehensible, but not everyone thinks so... why rush the issue, when consensus could be reached?

[johnnyjust]

This just in.....

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" to be replaced with "Don't Turn, Don't Bend."

[realityczech4u]

Close.
DPUTS is actually it: "Don't Pick Up The Soap"

[PCVIRGINIABEACH]

Bad call to play around with DADT. Lifting the ban on open sexuality in the military is not the same as supporting gay marriage or getting rid of DOMA. Obama will learn the same lessons that Clinton learned if he attempts to lift the ban on open homosexuality in our military... that is, that military life is very different from civilian life. He is smart to wait until he fully understands the service, the issues that open sexuality would create in it (berthing, bathrooms, etc), and the unique problems lifting the ban on open homosecuality would cause. DADT sucks, but it is the best solution to a complex issue.

[AxelDC]

Why is it that every NATO ally except Turkey has fully integrated gays into the military?

When Truman integrated blacks into the military, he didn't sit and ask the Generals if it was okay.

The vast majority of Americans oppose this blatant and unfair discrimination. Younger people, who make up the frontline troops, see this discrimination as offensive as not allowing blacks to serve. One extra day of bigotry is too long, so why should we wait until 2010?

I just pray that Obama doesn't fall victim to the sclerosis that has plagued the Democratic Party for decades. Afraid to stand up for what they believe in, they give up without a fight. Bill Clinton not only caved on this issue, but signed the Constitutionally dubious "Defense of Marriage Act."

[realityczech4u]

Apples and oranges. Melanin is not behavior.

[IraqAfghanVet]

PCVirginiabeach-
News flash that military life is different from civilian life. I'm heterosexual and I'm actually married to another service member. We've both done tours in Iraq and we're currently in Afghanistan. NEVER have I ever had worries about DADT being lifted and getting assaulted in the bathroom by a gay or lesbian service member. Please take your ignorance elsewhere. The military has enough retention problems considering it's year on, year off deployment cycles as we fight a two front war. The only complex issue our society has is homophobes panicking that military service men and women will get assaulted in the bathroom while in Iraq of Afghanistan. I don't know about you, but I'm a little more worried about getting shot by an RPG or hit by an IED than anything else.

[realityczech4u]

Loading up the military with homosexuals is a creative solution to the personnel shortage.

[Mattie]

campaign promise, do they mean anything, he made promises in the primary that he didn't keep. LOL, campaign promise! This guy is exactly like everyone else.

[Lisa-G]

To all of my equality-loving sisters and brothers: We need to keep the pressure on Obama so he doesn't try to say there are other, more pressing issues to be addressed.

DADT and DOMA need to repealed immediately!

[BinKbar]

Repealing the ban was an Obama campaign promise. (heh, heh! He lies to everybody.)
http://www.theobamafile.com/ObamaLatest.htm

[loper2008]

um, did you read the article?

He is going to repeal it, just not within his first 6 months in office. What is the big deal? He should focus on the economy, health care, and foreign policy first.

[realityczech4u]

Indeed. A crashing financial system, climate change, war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Let's get our priorities in order. Homosexuals and their demands clearly must come first.

[Mattie]

they didn't have to come first, but he made a promise, and now he's breaking it. He should just say, Hey America, it's ok to discriminate against gays. Don't worry about it, look how the vote in CA went, we don't like gay people!

[Pupster]

Seriously, it's morons like you that prevent people from taking Dems seriously. Go disrupt the public with your nutty fringe friends like Code Pink. Leave the real work for the grownups, please.

[troykendal]

Advisers see consensus in building institutionized discriminatory public policy.

[Vere15]

On the conservative side of the spectrum, we see as usual a complete disconnect between values, means and ends. The simple law of mathematics means that for every gay or gal who is not sent into combat, a heterosexual will have to serve overseas instead. As things have turned out, battefield assignments have been extended ad infinitum ad nauseum. Additionally, for every one soldier killed, at least another five return with serious injuries.

So, the upshot is that the conservative position against gays, works clearly against heterosexuals as well and the children who emerge from those relationships who may lose a parent permanently, partially through injury, occupationally through the loss of their job or simply the lost time not spent with their children during their formative years.

Conservatives are their own worst enemies.

[Eric8]

Not surprising, Obama is quickly becoming a Centrist, just like Clinton, too scared to take on the taboo of allowing people to openly state their sexuality. Two years is just a smoke screen for never. Progressives should get used to the disappointment, that Obama is not the bearer of a new generation but a gap in-between generations. The youth generation, my generation, thinks people should be allowed to marry regardless of their sexuality, my generation is not obsessed with homophobic rituals that warn of revolt, my generation is not Centrist but Progressive. And Obama is not my generations President, for if he was, he wouldn't fear changing the status quo on such a ridiculously silly issue. If he can't stand up to homophobic fears of a few how can he stand up to eleven thousand lobbyists encircling Washington like sharks awaiting their next tax-payer funded meal. Maybe the only difference between Clinton and Obama is the branding, everything else stays the same.

[Pupster]

He's not "quickly becoming centrist"; he's been there all along, which is how he worked with Repubs in Illinois and in the Senate, and how he won the election. Just like where most of the people who voted for him are. If you don't like it, you should've stuck with Kucinich or Nader and gotten used to being a fringe element and losing on a regular basis.

Most people want to repeal DADT, but if you think that should be our first priority or even our 5th , you are deluded and should go back to playing with children's toys. Leave the real work to the grownups. The rest of us are gonna try to keep our economy from going under, and keeping people in their homes. And hopefully get healthcare for the 45 million people who don't have it. And maybe solve the energy crisis so that we don't get into unnecessary wars in which tens of thousands are killed.

Get a friggin clue.

[Daniboy]

Will Obama really close GITMO and send detainees to San Fran or is he having second thoughts about this too? With power come responsibility.

[Daniboy]

Change we can believe-Back to the future-Hillary Sec of State-all other appointees from Clinton administration. I guess it is change from last 8 years but I was thinking of real change. Washington insiders are still running our country!!

[Pquilson]

Did you really expect any different? Mr. Obama is first and foremost a politician. He is interested in his power, and in getting re-elected, even at this very early date.
No, campaign promises mean nothing. After all, in his promise to have a tax cut for "95% of working Americans", when 40% do not pay income taxes, was simply buying American votes with their own money. It will not occur, in my opinion, and, in fact, it is my opinion that the Bush tax cuts will be allowed to expire, creating a tax increase for everyone, or nearly everyone.
How, or why, would you expect Mr. Obama to keep any promises he made?

[Mattie]

I never did, that's why I voted third party! He didn't keep promises from the Primary, fool me once, I change my vote!

[Pupster]

You ideologues sound like a bunch of pie in the sky turnips. Obama's picking people with the savvy to get his programs passed, not just stand on principle with no chance of getting his agenda enacted.

Back in 93, Hillary ignored all the congressional players, including possible allies, then refused to compromise on health care in any way. So we got nothing instead of a deal with some compromise. Obama isn't so dumb.

Feel free to yell into the wind, while the grownups get something done.

[midknightryder13]

I really wish more people understood exactly what DADTDP is. To begin with, it is a LAW -- not an Executive Order. The PREVIOUS ban on gays serving in the military was an EO, that's what Congress replaced with the DADTDP law.

Because it is a law, Congress HAS to be involved to repeal it. Further, it would be quite useful if, when DADT is repealed the UCMJ was adjusted so that a gay servicemember could not be court martialed for having consentual sexual relations OF ANY KIND with someone of the same gender. That's just one example, I'm sure there are other parts of the UCMJ that would need to be changed as well.

This will require a coordinated effort -- and, as we have seen, those take a bit of time to put together.

[Pupster]

It's too bad that the repeal of DADT is being delayed, and in any other time it would be outrageous. But, people, we are in an extraordinary time. Things are going to hell in a handbasket. There are other priorities that are higher and that must be dealt with immediately. Energy, health care, foreign policy including the 2 wars we are currently in, and looming above them all, the economy. Everything else needs to go on the back burner.

Keep in mind that Clinton made the mistake of making this the first issue and it not only was a tremendous political loss for him, it was a divisive hot potato that distracted from other issues. Who knows if health care could have fared better without this loss. Obama is being smart about this. Don't make a culture war football your first issue. Deal with the things where some consensus can more easily be reached.

And hopefully sooner rather than later, DADT and DOMA will both be discarded.

[Pogopaws]

Well said. With the mess left by Bush, Pres. Obama would be fookish to expend his political capital on DADT right away. That said, I have no doubt he will get rid of it.

[antaeus]

Clinton's "mistake" was 15 years ago. Funny, but when folks pointed out the viability of the Clinton brand during the primary, they were scorned for being dinosaurs. And given the situation in which real talent, such as langiage translation, is being sacrificed in the name of sexual hysteria, I wouldn't label this issue a "culture war football."

[Pupster]

Do you think the conservative right have stopped hating gay people or that they wouldn't milk this issue to rile up their base? Granted, the public has progressed enough to probably have DADT repealed, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't come with some political fire from social conservatives. If you hadn't noticed, gay marriage bans passed in three states this past election as well as another anti-gay intiative (banning gay adoption) in Arkansas. So yes, I would label this issue a "culture war football."

[omahkohkiaayo]

No oppressed group has ever achieved real liberation by having "equal access" to become or become like another oppressor. I remember when I was in the military, straights played Gay to get out of service in an imperial war machine; now we have Gays who sometimes play straight and/or do not want to be asked about sexual orientation to get in on the military action.

I wonder if those tortured at Abu Gharib or elsewhere cared about the sexual orientation of those torturing them. This is where narrow and narcissistic "Identity Politics" leads: the demand to end oppression of MY particular group even if it means joining in the "mainstream" and oppressing other groups for some kind of "acceptance" and "legitimacy."

While the Nazis were targeting and oppressing various groups including homosexuals, they had, among and for them, members of the same groups (Jews, homosexuals, former communists and socialists etc) that were being targeted--sort of like Gay Republicans.