SLDN has responded to the reports that Obama's DOJ is going to appeal the Ninth Circuit's recent DADT decision:
Tonight Army Veteran and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis issued the following in response to reports that the Department of Justice intends to appeal last week’s decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals regarding enforcement of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) law in the Log Cabin Republicans vs. United States case.SU's Alex Nicholson, who was a plaintiff in the case, issued this blistering statement:
“At SLDN, we are frustrated by this last-minute filing, which could well add more delay and confusion for service members. This development only serves to underscore the need for immediate certification and finality.”
The Administration's response to this latest development in the Log Cabin Republicans lawsuit is unfathomable and confusing. 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' should be completely dead by now. Certification of legislative repeal has now been dragged out beyond a reasonable time frame, so the court stepped back in to get the job done. The President should just let this law die.I stand by my comments in my previous post regarding any confusion and real life consequences of keeping this egregious policy on life support instead of allowing LGBT service members to serve while the military services take their sweet time slow walking the certification process.
It really shouldn't have come to this. It didn't have to be this way. President Obama could have had a relatively easy victory by issuing an Executive Order stopping discharges and pushing for immediate repeal of DADT after his election. The victory would have been unquestionable in the eyes of one of his most loyal voting blocks had he not been so reluctant to govern as if the majority of the American people had not evolved on LGBT issues. I'm not saying Obama should move on our civil rights via polls, but he enjoyed a 79% approval of getting rid of DADT way back in May of 2007.The Obama administration needs to answer what their true motivation is by appealing this decision? Is it simple stubbornness to having things their way so they can claim they "won" rather than Log Cabin Republicans? Remember, the question would be moot if he had just done what was suggested a long time ago and, even more recently, he could have issued the Executive Order to allow LGBT troops to serve while the military was trained in how to supposedly deal with lesbian and gay members they are already successfully serving with. It would have been a "win-win" by endearing him to the LGBT community by acting on our civil rights while providing more proof that allowing openly gay and lesbian servicemembers to continue to serve does indeed enhance military effectiveness.
There really is no emergency regarding the allowing of gays and lesbians to openly serve in the military at this time. The only emergency is for the Obama administration by their being challenged, embarrassed and obviously told by the courts to be the "Fierce Advocate" for gay and lesbian American troops they had claimed they would be.
