This Memorial Day weekend, Chris Coons is congratulating the House for passing the bill that would eventually repeal DADT as well as congratulating Senator Ted Kaufman for his YES vote on moving DADT Repeal out of the Senate Armed Services Committee. This is his statement in full:
On the eve of Memorial Day, Chris Coons, New Castle County Executive and Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, hailed the passage of a bill to repeal discrimination based on sexuality in the Armed Forces. Last night, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the amendment to the Defense Authorization bill 234-194. Congressman Mike Castle (R-Del.) voted against the amendment.
“‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ is discrimination, plain and simple,” said Chris. “For far too long, this policy has caused sailors like Dover’s George Christensen to serve in fear of not only the enemy, but also in fear of being summarily discharged. We are at war, and people willing and able to serve, ought to be able to serve – openly – to protect our freedom.”
George Christensen enlisted in the Navy at 17 in 1956. He served for 23 years, including active duty in the Vietnam War, retiring as Lt. Commander in 1979. Soon after retiring, he came out.
“It’s about time we got rid of this policy,” said George. “We have been excluding talented people from service for arbitrary, non-military reasons. In a time of war, it is time common sense prevailed.”
Yesterday the Senate Armed Services Committee also voted on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Senator Ted Kaufman (D-Del.), a member of the committee, voted for repeal. The amendment would become law only after the Pentagon completes a study and President Obama, Defense Secretary Gates, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff certify that a change in policy will not negatively impact the military’s capabilities.
Chris is right — this policy was horrible from the beginning, and is a policy that specifically made gay and lesbian Americans second class citizens when it came to serving the country. In a place where all of us are supposed to have been Created Equal, this second class status was always an un-American way of dealing with this issue.
Unlike Mike Castle, Chris Coons gets that discrimination against any group of Americans is not reflective of our values, and does not help to create a stronger country. But as we talked about yesterday, Mike Castle is in the business of representing his party — not Delawareans — these days.
Chris Coons has put up a petition at his website asking supporters of the repeal of DADT to make our voices heard for standing up for our service men and women and for American values of inclusion — go over and sign it today.