Reps Wilson, McKeon, implore Pentagon to not repeal DADT.

[SirNitram]

Link to fauxnews

ouse Armed Services Chairman Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., and Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., who chairs the Military Personnel subcommittee have written a letter to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta asking him to delay the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell on Sept. 20 because certain regulations regarding benefits to same sex couples have not been revised.

Mr. Secretary, we trust that you will see the risk of moving forward with repeal without giving service members and their leaders adequate time to study, understand and prepare themselves to implement the revised policies and regulations they will need to be successful," the letter reads.

The pair also requests that the Defense Department share with the committee the service chiefs and the views of senior military leaders in memoranda form, a request that has been denied by the Office of the Secretary of Defense in the past.

"The Department is not ready to implement the repeal because all the policies and regulations necessary for the transition are not yet final," the letter that's dated Sept. 12 reads. "We would ask that the senior military leaders' memoranda immediately be made public and transmitted to the Committee on Armed Services."

Despite the letter, the Pentagon intends to implement the policy on Sept. 20 as originally planned.

"The repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell will occur, in accordance with the law and after a rigorous certification process, on September 20," a Pentagon spokesman said. "Senior Department of Defense officials have advised Congress of changes to regulations and policies associated with repeal. We take that obligation seriously."

And a senior defense official says the time has come to implement the repeal.

"The nearly two-decade debate on this issue is over. The service secretaries, service chiefs, and combatant commanders submitted their recommendations months ago, and none of them suggested that repeal be postponed."

Link has the full text of the letter availiable. Poor Reps McKeon and Wilson. They're just wanting to protect the homophobes for longer. Pleaseee? But that dirty socialist Panetta said 'nope'.

Personally, won't be surprised if this becomes a plot point in the narratives of the GOP contenders.

[Block]

Uh the letter is extremely reasonable. They asked for the new regs to be published so they could do their job and review it. They're concerned that because the requests have not been met, the regs may not be ready. It's not an unreasonable assumption considering the way military regs are written.

[Lonestar]

While the benefits regs may not have been inked yet, the crux of the matter, the allowing of openly gay personnel in the US military, doesn't required those bennie regs to be formally inked.

[Zaune]

Easy solution. Just agree that whatever benefits regs they agree on will be made retroactive, so far as is possible.

And how hard could it be, anyway? The Department of Veterans Affairs must have devised some policy for common-law spouses by now.

[Lonestar]

Easy solution. Just agree that whatever benefits regs they agree on will be made retroactive, so far as is possible.

And how hard could it be, anyway? The Department of Veterans Affairs must have devised some policy for common-law spouses by now.

Guess again.

[Zaune]

Okay, point taken. Crediting a branch of the US federal government with even a small measure of common sense is never a good idea.

[eion]

Also, the fact is that with DOMA still in place it may be very dificult to provide same-sex spouses of service members with ANY benefits since that could be viewed as the Federal Government endorsing gay marriage. But, that may work towards the benefit of marriage equality activists in the long run once stories get out of service member spouses being denied access to the PX, survival benefits, living in crappy houses, etc.

Can't wait for the non-event of open service to start so I can watch the homophobes' heads fizzle when NOTHING bad happens and perhaps even quite a bit of good happens.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Can't wait for the non-event of open service to start so I can watch the homophobes' heads fizzle when NOTHING bad happens and perhaps even quite a bit of good happens.

Sorry to say, but reality has never stopped them before...
Going back through history there have been any number of times where people said "If 'x' happens it will be the end of civilization as we know it!"

They said that about ending slavery ,then about women voting, then about letting blacks marry whites, then about gays...

Time and time again as society changes they are proven wrong, yet they will never admit to such. Letting gays marry was supposed to bring about the end of times yet they have been doing so both in the US and across the world for over a decade without fire and brimstone raining down from on high.

So sadly, once it is shown that letting gays serve in the armed forces will NOT cause it's instant collapse, that will do little to nothing to stop certain people from still saying that it shall.

[Block]

Also, the fact is that with DOMA still in place it may be very dificult to provide same-sex spouses of service members with ANY benefits since that could be viewed as the Federal Government endorsing gay marriage. But, that may work towards the benefit of marriage equality activists in the long run once stories get out of service member spouses being denied access to the PX, survival benefits, living in crappy houses, etc.

Can't wait for the non-event of open service to start so I can watch the homophobes' heads fizzle when NOTHING bad happens and perhaps even quite a bit of good happens.

Last I heard Same sex spouses will not get any benefits. They're to be treated as the boyfriends/girlfriends of straight service members are. That was a couple of months ago, but the DADT repeal brief we got was very clear on that point.

[eion]

Sorry to say, but reality has never stopped them before...

Hopefully it will further isolate the homophobes from the mainstream in the same way civil rights legislation began the isolation of racists. There are still many racial inequalities in this country, but at least it's no longer socially acceptable to refer to black men as "boy" or "nigger" in polite society and infer or state outright that they are scientifically inferior.

[Serafina]

Well, it arguably IS "the end of civilization as we know it" . Which is the case for pretty much any notable change, and by itself that statement is pretty neutral.

That being said - what are the odds that some people in the military are deliberately throwing spanners into the works, impeding the formation of new policies for the repeal in order to stall it?

[JME2]

Well, it arguably IS "the end of civilization as we know it" . Which is the case for pretty much any notable change, and by itself that statement is pretty neutral.

LGBT rights are the final frontier of civil rights. The repeal of DADT is a major step. Any regs should be retroactive, even with government bureaucracy. But...

That being said - what are the odds that some people in the military are deliberately throwing spanners into the works, impeding the formation of new policies for the repeal in order to stall it?

...I would not be surprised at this.

[Pint0 Xtreme]

If anyone is interested, I found this USAF powerpoint briefing on the DADT repeal.

[General Mung Beans]

Mr. Secretary, we trust that you will see the risk of moving forward with repeal without giving service members and their leaders adequate time to study, understand and prepare themselves to implement the revised policies and regulations they will need to be successful,

Oh great more bureaucratbabble.

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

Sorry to say, but reality has never stopped them before...

Hopefully it will further isolate the homophobes from the mainstream in the same way civil rights legislation began the isolation of racists. There are still many racial inequalities in this country, but at least it's no longer socially acceptable to refer to black men as "boy" or "nigger" in polite society and infer or state outright that they are scientifically inferior.

It never was about any scientific, moral, or any other kind of reason for keeping it socially acceptable to mistreat people of any minority. The real reason is and always has been to keep it socially and institutionally acceptable for a majority member of society to apply violent and possibly lethal force with impunity directly upon the person of the minority member.

Mr. Secretary, we trust that you will see the risk of moving forward with repeal without giving service members and their leaders adequate time to study, understand and prepare themselves to implement the revised policies and regulations they will need to be successful,

Oh great more bureaucratbabble.

I don't think the failure to communicate lies on the other gentleman's end, however repugnant his cause may be.

[Beowulf]

If anyone is interested, I found this USAF powerpoint briefing on the DADT repeal.

That looks like the slide deck I was shown. If not, it substantially similar. With regard to same sex spouses, so long as DOMA is still in effect, the DoD cannot make any specific provisions for same sex spouses. I expect that it won't last much longer.