Opinion: Strange Course Toward Gay Ban Repeal

(May 30) -- Some day, perhaps, when someone writes about the legislative record of the Obama administration, they might better be able to understand the bizarre manner in which the president's team moved forward on repealing Don't Ask/Don't Tell (DADT).

Unlike the previous Democrat to occupy the Oval Office, President Obama didn't rush to act on gays in the military in the first days of his administration. President Clinton's clumsy attempt to repeal the ban on gay service in the military led to DADT, codifying the ban in law, whereas previously it had been an executive order that the president could repeal at his discretion.

This time, the current president acted with greater deliberation, sometimes indeed it seemed excessive deliberation. While Obama had promised in his campaign to repeal DADT, his team didn't give any indication of forward motion until last October, when administration officials asked Sen. Joe Lieberman to spearhead legislative efforts to reverse the ban. Well-respected in military circles, the Connecticut Independent who caucuses with the Democrats often sides with Republicans on matters of national security.

In the succeeding months, while the president made noises about repeal, addressing the matter in his State of the Union address and dispatching Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the Senate Armed Services Committee to speak out in favor of repeal, he failed to offer a legislative timeline for action.

Just last month, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the administration had no intention of moving forward on repeal in 2010. Despite an initial flurry of activity, the White House decided to relegate the issue to the back burner. While the leadership of the various national gay organizations seemed to take the backpedaling in stride, gay bloggers and activists were up in arms. They were not pleased with the stop-and-go approach to repeal.

Then, all of a sudden in the past few days, we learned of meetings at the White House and a sudden compromise with Congress to vote on repealing with ban -- that is, ending the legislative ban and leaving it up to the Pentagon to repeal it. As Ed Morrissey put it, "This bill doesn't take effect at all unless the president certifies in writing that he wants the change to occur and that the military has prepared for it to occur."

While the solution may not be ideal, it's a step in the right direction. Now that the House has voted for repeal, once the Senate follows suit (and Obama signs the bill), the president will regain the authority to decide the issue.

The real question that remains is why, after all the stop-and-go action over the past seven months, the administration rushed to reach this compromise and get it to the House floor and before the Senate Armed Services Committee in a matter of days?

Perhaps the national gay organizations developed a new strategy. Perhaps House Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded to pressure from her San Francisco constituents. Or perhaps for some other reason altogether.

While I am pleased with this compromise -- finding it very close to the type of bill I would have written had I been in Congress -- I am concerned at the swift (and sudden) introduction and passage of the legislation. It is never a good idea for a legislature in a republic to move so quickly on any bill no matter how beneficial.

Our legislators owe it to the people they serve to explain the change in policy. And the American people would have benefited from such a debate. Advocates of repeal could present evidence of how gay people have served openly in militaries in other nations without compromising unit cohesion, morale or effectiveness. The debate could help dispel misunderstandings people have about gay people.

This is not so much an issue of gay rights, but one of national security. By allowing gay people to serve openly, we increase the number of citizens available to serve our nation. And evidence from armed services in other nations has shown that gay men and women have ably served their homelands. Just as they should protect and defend ours.

B. Daniel Blatt founded the Log Cabin Republican Club of Northern Virginia and blogs at GayPatriot.net.


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