Navy Panel Agrees, DADT Dead; Gay Sailor Derek Morado Stays ...

[SidDithers]

A 3-member Navy panel on Friday voted against discharging Petty Officer 2nd Class Derek Morado, a gay sailor who faced ouster from the military for violating “Don't Ask, Don't Tell.”

Morado told The Fresno Bee that his lawyer argued that Morado should stay because the policy that bans gay and bisexual troops from serving openly was dead.

Congress approved and President Barack Obama signed into law a bill last year that ends the ban. But implementation will not begin until 60 days after the president and Pentagon leaders agree the military is ready for the change. At a House hearing on Friday, military leaders said they expect to implement repeal by summer's end.

Morado was outed as gay in 2009 after he posted a photo of himself kissing another man on the Internet.

http://www.ontopmag.com/article.aspx?id=7993&MediaType=1&Category=26

Posting as a follow-up to a post last week about Morado.

DADT is not only merely dead, it's really most sincerely dead.

Sid

[pintobean]

1. K/R and brussel sprouts still rock

[Bluenorthwest]

2. As I pointed out on the last thread about this,

The hearing took place and Morado was sent there with lots of signatures from supporters who let the Navy know we were watching. The time for that to end is when there are no more hearings at all, and not a moment sooner. The week before this hearing, on DU there was a military guy posting about why they had to discharge him until July, when they'd be ready to stop being wrong. That is the reason the pressure is still on.
A law that is dead does not lead to hearings about breaking that law. Dead is dead, and it is going to be dead. At this point, the rattle continues, and it would be terrible to let anyone suffer in order to declare a thing over when it is not yet fully ceased.
The end result was good. The activism it took to get that result, also good.