A Republican-controlled House Armed Services subcommittee on Friday is set to hold a hearing to oversee the implementation of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal.
The witnesses scheduled to testify at the hearing — slated to begin at 9:30 am at Room 2212 of the Rayburn House Office Building — are top Pentagon officials. Undersecretary of Personnel & Readiness Clifford Stanley, who’s charged with overseeing repeal of the military’s gay ban at the Pentagon, and Vice Adm. William Gortney, director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are set to testify.
According to the committee website, the title of the hearing is “Review of the Implementation Plans for the Repeal of Law and Policies Governing Service by Openly Gay and Lesbian Service Members.”
Right. Just a review. “Only” 80% of the American people support repeal. But, the GOPers rarely miss an opportunity for some rhetorical gay-bashing.
Alex Nicholson is calling out the House Republicans over the real purpose of this hearing:
Alex Nicholson, executive director of Servicemembers United, said his organization supports the routine practice of congressional oversight, but added the purpose of the House hearing is “rather transparent.”
“Some House Republicans, including and especially the chair of the House Armed Services Committee, would like nothing more than to derail the Defense Department’s thus-far successful planning for repeal implementation, or at least slow it down considerably,” Nicholson said. “This cadre of reactionaries needs to understand once and for all that this issue is settled and no more time or taxpayer money should be wasted trying to take us backwards on this.”
Exactly.
Think about this for a minute: The initial White House strategy, which had the tacit support of some LGBT “leaders,” would have pushed a vote on repeal into 2011. That was their plan (and despite the rewriting of history, all the key players know that was the plan.) Imagine where we’d be if we sat back and let that strategy play out. It would have been a disaster. That’s why so many people worked so hard to push the White House and Congress to pass repeal in 2010. It was not part of the original plan. Yet, the political mastermind behind that flawed 2011 strategy is now running the President’s reelection campaign.
