A8
Politics & The Nation
EZ SU
KLMNO
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2010 ‘Don’t ask’ repeal awaits Obama’s signature repeal from A1
DANA MILBANK Washington Sketch
Senate’s cooler heads prevail I
f JohnMcCain gets any more hostile toward his Senate colleagues, they might
consider having him go through the metal detector before he enters the Capitol. Saturday’s debate on the
repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was only half an hour old when the Arizona Republican burst onto the floor from the cloakroom, hiked up his pants and stalked over to his friend Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and SenateMajority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). Ignoring Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), who had the floor,McCain hectored the men noisily for a fewmoments, waving his arms for emphasis. WhenMcCain finally stormed
off, Durbin shook his head in exasperation and Lieberman smiled. A minute later,McCain returned—he had apparently remembered another element of his grievance—and resumed his harangue. It turns outMcCain’s tempest
was needlessly stirred—he had wanted more time for the debate, which the Democrats eventually gave him—but that was typical. It doesn’t take much to set offMcCain these days. Earlier in the week, he was
observed in the act of publicly gloating on the Senate floor over his success in killing a massive spending bill.He’s also been raising hurdles to the ratification of the Obama administration’s nuclear arms treaty with Russia. At the same time, he led the opposition Saturday to repealing the ban on openly gay men and lesbians serving in the military —taking on Lieberman, who led the other side. McCain’s statement on the
floor was roughly one part argument, four parts tantrum. “So here we are about six weeks after an election that repudiated the agenda of the other side,” he said, and those who would repeal don’t-ask-don’t-tell “are acting in direct repudiation of the message of the American people.” (Actually, polls show support for repeal.) He bemoaned “this bizarro
world that the majority leader has been carrying us in,” and taunted: “Maybe it will require another election.” The Arizonan suggested that those who vote to repeal would have blood on their hands. “Don’t think that it won’t be at great cost,” he said, punctuating his words by bouncing on his toes and chopping with his left hand. It will “probably,” he said, “harm the battle effectiveness which is so vital to the survival of our young men and women in the military.” McCain famously said in 2006
that he would support repeal once military leaders recommended it. Instead, he led the opposition to repeal. McCainologists in the Capitol speculate that on this and other issues he’s driven less by policy consideration than by personal
animosity. A decade ago, his antipathy toward President GeorgeW. Bush led him to seek common cause with Democrats to thwart a Republican
president.Now his antipathy toward President Obama has made him a leading Republican hard-liner. On Saturday,McCain’s anger
was all the more striking because the general tone of the debate was tame. Republicans were mostly defensive, objecting not to the service of homosexuals in the military but to procedures and other technical matters. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) said of the repeal: “Should it be done at some point in time?Maybe so, but in the middle of a military conflict is not the time to do it.” Such tactical arguments made
it appear that the opponents were standing against the inevitable tide of history. Lieberman said the repeal would “advance the values that the founders of our country articulated in our original American documents.” In the end,McCain lost eight Republicans as the ban was easily overturned. This wasn’t entirely surprising, because Defense Secretary Robert Gates (a Bush administration holdover) and Joint Chiefs ChairmanMikeMullen both argued passionately for repeal, and a Pentagon study forecast that a repeal would not bring significant harm. McCain clung to the dissenting viewof theMarine commandant, Gen. James Amos, who had warned that lifting the ban would create a “distraction” that could lead to battlefield injuries for U.S. troops. But assurances by Gates were good enough for Republican senators such as George Voinovich (Ohio), who defended his yes vote by saying he expects repeal “will be implemented in a common-sense way.” The loss of Republican votes,
no doubt, madeMcCain even angrier. When it came time for his closing argument before the day’s key vote,McCain spoke for only a fewseconds: “Today’s a very sad day. The commandant of the United StatesMarine Corps says when your life hangs on the line, you don’t want anything distracting. . . . I don’t want to permit that opportunity to happen and I’ll tell you why. You go up to BethesdaNaval Hospital,Marines are up there with no legs, none. You’ve got Marines atWalter Reed with no limbs.” McCain turned and, without
another word, walked into the cloakroom. Lieberman later said that he
expects his friendship with his volatile colleague to recover. “I don’t think this will leave any scars,” he said. “I just think we leave this fight knowing that I was right and he was wrong. I mean, it’s as simple as that.”
danamilbank@washpost.com
FREE ESTIMATE
1.866.FLOOR US Next Day Installation Available
MIKE’S CARPET 11220 Baltimore Ave., Beltsville, MD 20705 70%OFF!
Tiffany - Cartier Rolex
Christmas on all our previously owned Jewelry Jewelry • Diamonds • Watches
Save up to 70% off retail through
320 Maple Ave. East Vienna, VA 22180
703.938.0000
Holiday Hours: Monday–Thursday 10–6 Friday Dec.24th 10–2
Vienna Jewelry is not affiliated with any watch or jewelry
manufacturer.Vienna Jewelry is a reseller of previously owned fine jewelry and watches.
Printed using recycled fiber. NF407 2x.25 After McCain flares up,
effect ontheirunits. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman
MikeMullenwelcomedSaturday’s vote. “We will be a bettermilitary as a result,”he said.
Changing perspectives Clinton’s effort to change the
Defense Department policy that deemedhomosexuality incompat- ible with military service was up- endedby resistance fromtopmili- tary advisers, Congress and the
Americanpublic.The billhe even- tually signed—enacting the poli- cy officially known as “don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t pursue” — was drafted in part by lawmakers op- posed to gays inthemilitary. Yet public sentiment toward
gays inthemilitaryhas sinceshift- ed: InMay 1993, just 44 percent of Americans believed gays who dis- closed their sexual orientation should be allowed to serve in the military;now,77percentofAmeri- cans think so, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released thismonth. In the first two years of the
Obama presidency, gay rights ac- tivists and others who sought an end to the ban expressed frustra- tion that it was not quickly re- pealed. Indeed, the repeal failedto advance twice in the Senate this year, and as recently as Dec. 9 it was widely seen as unlikely to survive. Ahead of Saturday’s vote, sena-
torslaidout theirpositionsforand against ending the ban. “As Barry Goldwater said, ‘You
don’t have to be straight to shoot straight,’ ” said Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), referring to the late GOP senator fromArizona. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a
leading opponent of themeasure, saidliberalswithnomilitaryexpe- riencewerepushing a social agen- da on troops during wartime de- spite reservations among the fighting forces. “They will do what is asked of
them,”McCain said of the troops. “But don’t think there won’t be a great cost.” Gay rights activists always as-
sumed that at least four Republi- cansenatorswouldvotetoendthe ban, but Saturday’s result yielded a total of eight. The bill’s GOP co-sponsor, Sen.
Susan Collins (Maine), said Satur- day that she knew two party col- leagues — George V. Voinovich (Ohio) andMark Steven Kirk (Ill.) — would join her, Scott Brown (Mass.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Olympia J. Snowe (Maine) in
votingtoendtheban.Shesuspect- ed that John Ensign (Nevada) might also join them, and she
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/GETTY IMAGES
Former Air ForceMaj.Michael Almy, who watched the vote from the Senate gallery, has said that if he and other discharged troops are allowed to reenlist—as a Pentagon study suggests—he will do so.
called an unexpected yes vote from Sen. Richard Burr (N.C.), “gutsy.” “This is one of the days where
you really feel privileged to be in
theU.S.Senate,”
saidSen.JosephI. Lieberman(I-Conn.), theother co- sponsor of the bill. “There’s beena lotofdifficult times thelast couple of years because it’s so partisan to get anything done. But here we are, it came together.” The House on Wednesday ap-
proved the repeal bill on a vote of 250 to 175. Obama will sign the legislation this week, the White House said. The Senate vote delivered an-
other significant bipartisan victo- ry for the president, one day after he signed an $858 billion tax-cut package that theWhiteHouse ne- gotiated with congressional Re- publicans.
Next steps The ban will not be formally
lifted until after Obama and top military leaders report to Con- gress that they have reviewed the findings of the Pentagon review about the ban, released last month, and that the Defense De- partment has drafted policies and regulations to stop enforcing it. Those changes must not affect
troop readiness, cohesion ormili- tary recruitment and retention, according to the law. Evenafter the finding, lawmak-
erswillbeabletoholdhearings for two months to review the Penta- gon’s policies and procedures for accepting openly gay troops, ac- cording to congressional aides fa- miliarwiththematter. Defense Secretary Robert M.
Gates said Saturday that the law remains ineffect and that the pro- cess of implementing the change in policy “will take an additional period of time.” “I will approach this process
deliberately and will make such certification only after careful consultationwiththemilitary ser- vice chiefs and our combatant commanders andwhenI amsatis- fied that those conditions have beenmet for all the services, com- mands andunits,”Gates said. Close military observers say
that theeaseofendingthebanwill vary widely among the military branches and that the Pentagon could stagger implementation of the change. Combat Marines are especially
concerned about the possibility of serving alongside openly gay col- leagues, and Gen. James F. Amos, theMarine commandant,has sug-
gested that allowing gays to serve openly in themilitary could result in deadly distractions. SeveralRe- publican senators cited Amos’s concerns Saturday before voting against the bill. Obama phoned wavering sena-
tors Saturday morning to ensure the bill’s passage, and several aides who worked closely on the issue, including senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, watched the vote later fromthe Senate gallery. As the voting continued, a
white-haired woman seated high in the Senate gallery pumped her fist in the airwhen she heard that Oregon’s Democratic senators, RonWyden and JeffMerkley, had voted yes. Others silently high-fived each
other as the final tally was an- nounced. AirForceveteranMichaelAlmy,
40, was also watching. If troops dischargedunder “don’t ask,don’t tell” are permitted to reenlist, as the Pentagon study recommends, he saidhe intends to do so. “I can’t wait to be a part of it
again,”he said Saturday.
ed.okeefe@washingtonpost.com
Staffwriters Felicia Sonmez and Paul Kane and polling director JonCohen contributed to this report.
Gay troops unleash emotions at end of long fight
Excitement is tempered by disbelief, questions about implementation
BY ERNESTO LONDONO
kabul — The gay Army lieuten- ant’s heart had been racing all night. Shuffling between meetings at
his outpost in eastern Afghani- stan on Saturday night, the 27- year-old officer kept popping his head into the main office to catch a glimpse of Fox News’s coverage of the Senate debate that led to a vote lifting the ban on gay men and lesbians serving in the mili- tary openly. “Don’t cry,” a 21-year-old spe-
cialist, one of the lieutenant’s confidants, told his boss jokingly whennewsbroke that 65 senators had voted to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell.” “I’mcompletely numb,” was all
the lieutenant could mutter. Across the world, other gay
troops whose lives, careers and relationships have been indelibly, if sometimes quietly, shaped by thebanreacted to thenewswith a mixture of rapture and disbelief. Many had seethed for weeks as
the political debate over the re- peal became laden with sexual innuendo and suggestions that openly gay soldiers on the front lines might become life-threaten- ing distractions. “I was flipping out,” the lieu-
tenant said Saturday night, speaking by phone. “This turned into a [expletive] political fight. We were caught in the middle of it. But the people who it affects the most couldn’t do anything about it.We felt used.” The stakes were also high for
the specialist. His brother is gay and had vowed to join the Air Force if the policy were repealed this year. Their father is also gay, which made attending military events somewhat awkward for the family. “It just made for a weird situa-
cause the “don’t ask” policy will remain in effect until President Obama signs the bill. For some, the news was bitter-
sweet. That was the case for a 28-year-oldWest Point Army cap- tain who resigned from active duty this spring after wrestling for years with deprivation, loneli- ness and half-truths. His boy- friend was sitting next to him. “Oh God, oh God,” the decorat-
ed captain, who served two tours in Iraq, said by phone from Dallas as the vote neared. “My heart was thumping.” Text messages began pouring
in as soon as the tally was an- nounced. “So when are you back on
PAUL CHINN/SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
RetiredNavy Cmdr. Zoe Dunning is surrounded by other repeal supporters in San Francisco as the decisive vote is announced.
tion,” he said. As the debate intensified in
recent months, several service members became emboldened. Many began voicing their posi- tions bluntly and openly through outlets such as Facebook and Twitter. This summer, active-duty gay
troops started an underground lobbying group called Out Serve. Members joined by word of mouth, forming chapters across the country, in war zones and in other countries with large U.S. military contingents. They called key senators
thought to be on the fence, telling them of the toll the policy had taken on their careers and per- sonal lives. “We are hoping to get this issue
taken care of ASAP,” the chapter president of troops stationed in Germany, a 26-year-old Air Force staff sergeant, said in an inter- view the night before the vote. “We do not want to run out of time with this Congress. We be- lieve this will be a very hard issue to sell to the next Congress.” Somehad become all but hope-
less. “I honestly have closed myself
off to relationships, because they were either closeted relation-
ships or there was just too much to hide,” said a 26-year-old heli- copter mechanic who recently completed a tour in Afghanistan. A 31-year-old Army medic de-
ployed in western Iraq said the policy has hurt his career. “DADT has made me afraid to
report discrimination,” the spe- cialist said in an interview over instant messaging. “I feel that I’m passed over [for promotion] be- cause I am gay.” Cautiously optimistic, the Air
Force staff sergeant and a dozen of his gay comrades headed out Saturday night to the Yours Aus- tralian Bar, a pub in Frankfurt. Struggling to hear over the din
of bar chatter, rock music and a soccermatch, they monitored the hearing on C-SPAN and CNN us- ing iPhones. When the news broke, they roared. “We cheered like the Germans
do for a win during a soccer match,” the staff sergeant said from the bar, using instant mes- saging to communicate from his cellphone. The other patrons looked bemused as the soldiers toasted the news while they ate burgers and drank Foster’s beer. Gay service members inter-
viewed for this article spoke on the condition of anonymity be-
active duty?” wrote a straight intelligence officer who served with him in Iraq in 2009. “LOL. I dunno,” the captain responded. “Let me know so I can get
stationed there,” the intelligence officer wrote back. “I work with a lot of morons. It’d be nice to have a battle [buddy] with some com- mon sense and discipline again.” Some service members won-
dered how the military will im- plement the repeal and how straight troops will react to the change, particularly in combat units, which tend to be more conservative. “The majority of younger,
rank-and-file guys will be fine with it,” said Marine Capt. Tom Garnett, who is straight and a reservist at a Virginia law school. “But we are a conservative ser- vice,andoneangryMarinemakes a lot more noise than 30 ambiva- lentMarines.” At the outpost in eastern Af-
ghanistan, the lieutenant ap- peared undisturbed about not having all the answers right away as he and the specialist sat in the outpost’s tactical operations cen- ter.
“I have no ideahowthe process
is going to be,” he said. “But we know what the end state is. There’s not a whole lot of ambigu- ity.”
londonoe@washpost.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160