Don't Ask, Don't Tell Provision in Defense Bill May Presage Fight on D.C.'s Marriage Equality

Don't Ask, Don't Tell Provision in Defense Authorization Bill May Presage Fight on D.C.'s Marriage Equality Law

May 24, 2011

WASHINGTON, DC - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said today that a provision in H.R. 1540, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 that could delay, or even kill, the repeal of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, indicates that D.C. residents need to be prepared for Republican efforts to overturn D.C.'s marriage equality law, especially now that the fiscal year 2012 appropriations process is underway. The National Defense Authorization Act is expected on the House floor this week.

The provision in the National Defense Authorization Act would add new stipulations to the repeal passed last year. Instead of current law requiring repeal sixty days after the President, Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff certify no harm to military readiness, among other things, this provision would also require the Chief of Staff of the Army, the Chief of Naval Operations, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, each of whom are subordinates to the President, Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to make a similar certification.

"When I still had the vote in the House Committee of the Whole in December, I was particularly pleased to vote to repeal the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, the single most significant national civil rights legislative action since the great civil rights acts of the 1960s," said Norton. "The latest Republican attempt to stand in the way of the historic repeal of a law that bars gay Americans from serving openly in the military is shamefully unfair to gays now serving and to those who want to serve their country. This new retrograde provision is entirely incongruent with the expert advice of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who strongly supported the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and it is out of line with the will of most Americans, who support ending discrimination against gays in the military. Opponents are trying this last grasp provision because they recognize that permitting equality for gays in the military quickens the pace for full and equal rights for our gay citizens in civil society. Particularly for the District of Columbia, maintaining and moving forward with the victory for gays in the military is not only critical on its own merits, but also important considering our determination to preserve our own marriage equality law, which is under attack in the House. We don't need any setbacks on civil rights legislation. If this bill passes the House I will work with my colleagues in the Senate to strike this discriminatory and counterproductive provision in the National Defense Authorization Act."