Via The Human Rights Campaign:
Dear Daniel,
| The Senate has failed to lead. President Obama still can. |
The United States Senate has failed our military and failed the American people.
Despite hundreds of thousands of calls and emails demanding an end to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" – and despite military leaders imploring the Senate to repeal the law this year instead of leaving it to the courts – the Senate today voted to leave prejudice and bigotry on the books.
Since it appears Congress won't repeal the law this year, the fate of lesbian and gay service members now rests in President Obama's hands. To make good on his commitment to end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in 2010, President Obama needs to immediately issue a stop-loss order halting military discharges. At the same time, the Administration must immediately cease defending DADT in federal court.
In his State of the Union address last January, President Obama said he would work with Congress to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" this year. But despite the House successfully voting to repeal the law, the Senate continued its filibuster.
Now it's up to President Obama to clean up Congress's mess. And the first step is for his administration to stop defending the law in court and embroiling "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in seemingly endless legal wrangling.
Also, as Commander in Chief, the President can issue an executive order to retain any soldier deemed necessary in a time of war – even though Congress has failed to remove the law from the books. President Obama must issue that order and end the discharges now.
Send your email to President Obama and remind him that millions of Americans will stand with him when he asserts his leadership on this issue. And taking action today will add crucial pressure for President Obama to act before 2010 ends in just a few weeks.
We need President Obama to take immediate action to end this law that has hurt our families, our soldiers, and our national security by costing us thousands of the best and brightest service members who should be defending our nation.
I'm not giving up,
Joe Solmonese
President
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