Rep. Hunter Writes Obama: Don't Certify Repeal of Military Gay Ban Yet

[w8liftinglady]

http://www.care2.com/causes/civil-rights/blog/gop-lawmaker-sends-obama-letter-dont-certify-military-gay-ban-repeal-yet/

Rep Duncan Hunter, who has been a vocal opponent of repealing the military's ban on openly gay service personnel, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT), has reportedly written a letter to President Obama urging him to hold off on repeal certification. This follows a recent AP interview implying that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is willing to certify the repeal before he leaves his post at June's close.

From Army Times:


A Hunter letter to Obama, signed by about 20 other House Republicans and being delivered to the White House today, asks the administration “refrain” from certifying that repealing the gay ban won’t hurt military readiness, recruiting and retention and unit cohesion.

“Such a dramatic policy change should be taken cautiously, even more so now while we currently have American troops in harm’s way in Iraq and Afghanistan,” the letter said.

The letter takes issue with whether the military is really ready: “Merely providing training and educational briefs to our service members is not enough to justify moving forward with certification when consequential policy and regulatory changes associated with implementation must be reviewed by Congress under its oversight function. Until those policy changes have been delivered and reviewed by Congress, it would be irresponsible to proceed with the certification process."

This is not the first attempt by Republican lawmakers to slow the repeal.

[KG]

1. so, effectively DADT is still in place.

is that still on 'the list'?

[MNBrewer]

2. DADT has NOT been fully repealed per the legislation that was passed and signed

It WILL not be fully repealed until it is certified and all legal requirements are met. So, it's still the law, but on a slow burn to repeal. Wouldn't want to be hasty WRT equality!

[Cronus Protagonist]

3. I read that legislation and it only calls for a REVIEW

It does not repeal anything. And there's a barn door sized back door in it, which you are now seeing the GOP opening and running through.

pish tosh is all that DADT bill was - it;s just a Boehn for Obama to look good with teh gays.

[MNBrewer]

4. But it's on "Teh List" (tm)

[mitchtv]

5. so true

the List is all