WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress neared precedent-setting votes Thursday on whether to allow gays to serve openly in the military.
A House vote, which could come Thursday evening, would repeal the 1993 law known as “don’t ask, don’t tell,” which effectively requires gays wishing to join the military to hide their sexual orientation.
The Senate Armed Services Committee also was prepared to vote on the issue. In both cases the initiative to end the ban was attached to a $760 billion defense spending bill.
The gay rights amendment, supported by President Obama, is the product of a compromise with Pentagon leaders: It will not go into effect until the Pentagon completes a study, expected in December, on the ramifications of the policy change and until the president, the defense secretary and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff certify that it won’t hurt the military’s ability to fight.
As debate on the defense bill opened in the House, Republicans objected to legislating the ban before the study is completed.
“We’re saying, ’We’re shoving this down your throat,’” said Rep. Louie Gohmert, Texas Republican. “The military is not a social experiment. We are sending them out there with a mission to protect this country.”
But Rep. Jared Polis, Colorado Democrat, who is openly gay, said most Americans “recognize that on the battlefield it doesn’t matter if a soldier is lesbian, gay or straight. What matters is they get the job done for our country.”
“We need to get this done, and we need to get it done now,” said Rep. Patrick J. Murphy, a Pennsylvania Democrat who served in the Iraq war and who is the chief sponsor of the amendment.
Supporters said this week the Senate panel had enough votes to pass the bill after key holdouts, including Sen. Ben Nelson, Nebraska Democrat, announced they would swing behind it.
“In a military which values honesty and integrity, this policy encourages deceit,” Mr. Nelson said.
Mr. Nelson said a provision in the bill giving the military the power to decide on the details of implementing the policy was key to his support because it “removes politics from the process” and ensures repeal is “consistent with military readiness and effectiveness.”
Sen. Robert C. Byrd, West Virginia Democrat, who was another uncertain vote, also said Wednesday he would support the measure after succeeding in adding a provision that Congress will have 60 days to study the Pentagon study before the repeal goes into effect.
Advocates hoped the momentum in the Senate would carry over to the House, where several conservative Democrats, including Rep. Gene Taylor of Mississippi, threatened to oppose the massive defense spending bill if it included the repeal provision.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has said he supports repeal but would prefer that Congress wait to vote until he can talk to the troops and chart a path forward. A study he ordered is due Dec. 1.
“With Congress having indicated that is not possible, the secretary can accept the language in the proposed amendment,” Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said.
The service chiefs this week urged the Senate panel not to vote until the Pentagon could complete its survey of military personnel.
“The value of surveying the thoughts of Marines and their families is that it signals to my Marines that their opinions matter,” Gen. James T. Conway, the Marine Corps commandant, wrote in a letter to Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, who is the panel’s ranking minority member.
Adm. Mike Mullen, the nation’s top uniformed officer and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told graduating Air Force Academy cadets on Wednesday that they need to support a changing military.
Adm. Mullen didn’t speak directly about the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, but the chairman, who has said that the policy unfairly forces troops to lie, said service members should question convention.
“Few things are more important to an organization than people who have the moral courage to question the direction in which the organization is headed and then the strength of character to support whatever final decisions are made,” Adm. Mullen said.
The “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, itself a compromise worked out during the Clinton administration, states that military leaders will not investigate a service member’s sexual orientation as long as the member does not openly acknowledge that he or she is gay or engage in same-sex relations.
Some 14,000 people have been forced out of the military since implementation of the policy because of their sexual orientation.
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