A federal judge in San Diego, hearing the case brought on behalf of the Log Cabin Republicans, issued a worldwide injunction declaring “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” unconstitutional. Judge Virginia Phillips declared “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” has a direct and deleterious effect” on the armed services by hurting recruiting during wartime and requiring the discharge of service members with critical skills and training. In addition, she ordered that any discharges under the bill must cease immediately.
While the Obama Administration has vowed to overturn the policy through Congress, this likely puts the President in the odd position of having to defend a policy he believes is discriminatory and dangerous to the United States Military. This is because the Department of Justice traditionally has to defend overturned congressional laws. The Service Members’ Legal Defense Network, while praising the ruling, cautioned gay soldiers to remain closeted, for now. Although the House voted to repeal “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” in early September, the Republicans in the Senate, led by failed 2008 Presidential nominee John McCain, effectively blocked the vote for passage, ensuring the discriminatory ban remained in place.
I am very happy to report that two of my articles were accepted for publication in the Journal of Social Service Research this week. The first, an article that was reworked from a data-driven to a clinical piece is titled, “Using the Internet to Meet Sexual Partners: Research and Practice Implications.” The article, focusing on drug use within sexual relationships initiated in the on-line environment, is co-written by Dr. Sophia Dziegielewski (Professor, School of Social Work, University of Cincinnati) and will appear in a special upcoming GLBT-focused issue of the journal. The second, “Reducing Alcohol Abuse in Gay Men: Clinical Recommendations from Conflicting Research” sheds light on the conflicting studies about alcohol use and abuse in gay men and provides the clinician with recommendations on how to effectively screen gay male clients for alcohol abuse. Both should appear in-print and on-line in late 2010 or early 2011.
In their usual ignorant, non-educated, and failing nature, the Republicans, led by John McCain (the sour and sore loser of the 2008 Presidential election) blocked repeal of the miltary’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy which prohibits openly gay men and women soldiers from serving. No Republicans voted to advance the bill, and two Democrats from Arkansas, Sens. Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln, voted no. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the majority leader, voted no in a procedural move so he could bring the bill back to the floor in the future. The Republicans are well out of touch with the beliefs of the American people on this policy. The vast majority (around 75%-80%) believe the policy should be repealed and that gay and lesbian soldiers should be able to openly serve their country. The Republicans should be ashamed for using a social policy tactic to deny passage of the Bill, which included a 1.4% pay raise for the troops as well as funding for the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. This filibuster is an interesting and sad statement by Republicans, who are desperate to use divisive social issues to drum-up support from their far right-wing supporters. In November, voters should remember that the Democrats were the ones to not only support repeal of DADT, but also to give our men and women in uniform a much needed raise in pay and support our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
