It looks like this half-baked policy may finally be coming to an end.

Could it actually happen while Bush is still the commander in chief? Oh, I don't know about that. Bush has shown repeatedly that he is indifferent to the will of the American people.

But even if the Military Readiness Enhancement Act should fail this year, it will build momentum for the movement going into the election, and I expect it would yield results very early in the tenure of the next (probably Democrat) president.

I urge you to write your Congressional representatives about the issue!

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A new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released today shows 79% support for repealing the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” ban on lesbian, gay and bisexual service members. Only 18% of respondents thought lesbian and gay service personnel should not be allowed to serve openly.

The CNN poll follows a 2005 Boston Globe poll also finding 79% support for repeal. That same poll found that large “majorities of Republicans, regular churchgoers, and even people with negative attitudes toward gays think gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly in the military.” A similar Gallup poll found 91% support for open service among Americans aged 18-29. A December 2006 Zogby poll found that 73% of troops surveyed are comfortable with lesbians and gays.

The Military Readiness Enhancement Act (H.R. 1246), a Congressional proposal to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” is currently supported by a bi-partisan coalition of 127 lawmakers in the House of Representatives.

I always thought it was a silly policy.

It always was, and still is. Remember, this is pretty much the first issue that Clinton got caught up in. It was a compromise measure. Clinton campaigned partly on allowing all citizens regardless of sexual orientation to serve openly in the military. Before that, there was a complete ban on those who are not heterosexual.

It was a half-measure. Clinton really should have stuck to his guns, instead of trying to make everyone happy.

So far, it has cost the taxpayers over $300 million in recruiting, training, legal costs, etc. Money that could have been spent a LOT more intelligently, in my opinion.

I was in the Navy for 8 years. I saw a few good sailors get kicked out because it was discovered they were gay. One of them just made Chief Petty Officer.

Yeah. All those years and his pension plan just got flushed down the toilet.

That was one of the deal-breakers for me and why I didn't extend my commission.

It's a way out! Keep it!

The only way this ridiculous discriminatory law is abolished is if the gay rights leaders start advocating that gay people should NEVER serve in the military of a country that doesn't give them equal rights.

There will be such a hoo-haw from the right wing, bitching that the gays won't pull their own weight and that they're cowards and traitors and unAmerican and unpatriotic and yada yada yada.

They'll get rid of Don't Ask Don't Tell in half no time. The only way to get anything out of the mean-spirited right wing zealots is to REFUSE to do whatever is really wanted. The zealots will go out of their way to force gay people to do it!

Far be it from me to disagree with a fellow equality activist, but we should not be advocating that gay men and woman avoid military service. We should be encouraging the opposite. If we encourage service the culture of the military will change. There are too many patriotic gay men and women who have been too frightened to serve.

We need to conquer that fear and serve anyway. It's a matter of principle. We would be better off showing that we are dedicated American's instead of dedicated activists. Service should not be about personal identity, it should be about group identity. We are American's. We are dedicated service men and women.

The results of the military policy is becoming clear. DADT is pulling talented officers from the ranks, officers that the military can ill afford to lose during a time of war. Instead of robbing the military of these talented individuals, we should put more in. They can't get them all, and the more they get the dumber they look.

um
I was being facetious.

Well you never know... LOL I have heard stranger...