Issue Position: Repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Issue Position

For over 60 years, it has been the U.S. military's official policy to exclude lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individulals based on their sexual orientation and gender identification. Reflecting one of our country's last officially sanctioned forms of bigotry, this policy stigmatizes patriotic Americans by excluding them from military service. This policy is not only unfair to LGBT individuals, it also hinders our military's ability to perform its mission.

Despite our need for language specialists, almost 800 mission-critical troops and at least 59 Arabic and nine Farsi linguists have been discharged under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in the last five years solely based on their sexual orientation. Today there are over one million gay and lesbian veterans and over 65,000 LGBT members of the military serving in fear of being discharged for simply being themselves.

Repealing "Don't Ask Don't Tell" has been long overdue. On May 28, 2010, I voted for an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2011 Defense Authorization Bill, which calls for a repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell" pending a study from the Pentagon on its impact. On this issue, the military courts have spoken, military leaders have spoken, service members have spoken, and our President has spoken. In December of 2010, Congress finally spoke, passing a standalone repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell".

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