In 2006, I campaigned for a friend and former law school classmate, Patrick Murphy, as he ran for Congress in the Pennsylvania 8th Congressional District. I have campaigned for many candidates over the years, and many times I have been disappointed. But with Murphy, I remain proud:
Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.) has taken up the mantle as the chief opponent of “Don’t ask, don’t tell” in Congress, and he’s confident the policy banning gays from serving openly in the military will get its first full committee hearing in a decade and a half this session.
Murphy, a second-term Democrat, will be lead sponsor of the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which would repeal “Don’t ask, don’t tell” — a policy first passed by Congress and signed into law under President Bill Clinton.
“It’s our job,” Murphy said of a repeal. “This was an act of Congress in 1993 and it will take an act of Congress” to reverse it.
Since Murphy has sponsored this repeal, the bill has gotten six new cosponsors. Murphy is the perfect Congressman to lead this fight. He is of the current generation of veterans. He has served in both the Kosovo and Iraq Wars. He was awarded the Bronze Star and his unit in Iraq earned the Presidential Unit Citation. He is also a former West Point professor and an ex-military attorney. Thus, Republicans and homophobes alike cannot say he does not understand the military or unit cohesion.