Opening the Flood, Gates
Tony Perkins, Family Research Council, Feb. 3, 2010
“You don’t have to be straight to shoot straight.” That’s the best argument Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) could come up with for repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” during yesterday’s Senate hearing in the Armed Services Committee. According to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), it’s not good enough. “At this moment of immense hardship for our armed services, we should not be seeking to overturn the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy… Has this policy been ideal? No… but… [i]t has helped to balance a potentially disruptive tension between the desires of a minority and the broader interests of our all-volunteer force… We owe our lives to our fighting men and women, and we should be exceedingly cautious, humble, and sympathetic when attempting to regulate their affairs. ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ has been an imperfect but effective policy. And at this moment, when we are asking more of our military than at any time in recent memory, we should not repeal this law.” We applaud Sen. McCain for holding the line when so many in the administration have crossed it.
Apart from his comments, the only positive note from yesterday’s hearing was that senators of both parties reminded Secretary Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen that opening the military to homosexuals would require Congress–it’s not within the President or Pentagon’s power–to act unilaterally. Judging by our busy press room, FRC continues to be the go-to organization on this issue in the media. Apart from a series of print interviews, Peter Sprigg and I took the lead on a few national talk shows yesterday, debating the fallout of homosexuals in the military with experts from the other side. You can watch all three appearances–on CNN, MSNBC’s “Hardball,” and “Larry King Live“–by visiting our newsroom.
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WU10B03&f=PG07J01
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