“Congress recognizes a cultural shift - Seattle Post Intelligencer” plus 1 more |
| Congress recognizes a cultural shift - Seattle Post Intelligencer Posted: 17 Dec 2010 03:56 PM PST Saturday, December 18, 2010 In a landmark series of votes Saturday, the Senate gave official recognition to an historic change in American public opinion -- that in just 17 years, the ban on openly gay men and women serving in the military went from being seen as a necessary compromise to keep peace between two sides in the culture war to a baffling and unnecessary relic of another era. Gay rights advocates had reason to celebrate the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell," as the greatest legislative victory ever for their cause, even as repeal opponents warned of grave consequences. "It's not possible to overestimate the historical significance," said David Mixner, a longtime Democratic political operative, fundraiser and gay rights advocate. "It's a milestone and a historical moment and a turning point. In this incredible, epic, civil rights battle, it's a huge victory — the first victory of this magnitude ever by the Congress of the United States." Still, aside from those deeply invested in the fight, most of America seemed likely to react with an approving shrug. With recent polls showing as many as 80 percent of the public in favor of repeal, the struggles repeal legislation faced over the past year suggested Washington's consternation over the issue far exceeded worry about it across the country. In a sign of the cultural shift, even some steadfast conservatives climbed aboard the repeal effort at the last moment. Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) cast an unexpected vote in favor, citing a "generational transition that has taken place in our nation." Sen.-elect Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) also said he supported ending "don't ask." "It's like this great wave. It's molecular change — more and more of the public either understands that discrimination isn't right, or they don't get the issue being an issue at all," said Dudley Clendinen, an author and historian of the gay-rights movement. "It's ludicrous that this is even a battle, but that's just the reality. The Beltway is usually the last place to catch on what's going on in the country," Mixner said. The vote of Burr, 55, is especially illustrative of the shifting culture. Such a stance would have been unthinkable just a few years ago by a GOP senator from the state that sent Jesse Helms to Washington for 30 years. But North Carolina, like the rest of the country, isn't the same place as it was when the policy was implemented. While still the home of such iconic military bases as Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune, the Tar Heel state is increasingly cosmopolitan and filled with moderate transplants. President Obama carried the state in part because of such voters, who've filled communities around Charlotte and the Research Triangle area of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. Burr's vote and subsequent statement nodding to the changing times reflects a politician, just re-elected last month, who knows where the consensus on this once-thorny issue is moving and where it will squarely be in 2016
In its chaotic and busy first year, the Obama White House said little about repeal, but last February, the administration weighed in with unprecedented endorsements for the concept from the Pentagon's two highest officials -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Michael Mullen. But to the consternation of gay advocates, the administration simultaneously produced a plan that called for Congress to take no action at all until the Pentagon finished a report on the issue sometime early this month. That would have likely meant no legislation until 2011.
"A combination of factors made the White House realize they had to shift course and speed this up, but it was almost too late," said Richard Socarides, a policy adviser to President Bill Clinton on gay issues. "Obama will get credit for ultimately being successful with a strategy based on the idea that you had to first bring the Pentagon along [but] Obama had to be dragged into this kicking and screaming, and he almost waited too long. People working on this really had to pull a rabbit out of a hat." Even that Plan B, which involved placing conditional repeal language in a defense bill, proved unworkable when the Senate failed to overcome GOP-led filibusters in September and again last week. Only when the repeal measure was stripped out of the bill could supporters muster enough votes in the Senate to clear the 60-vote hurdle. To a degree, the victory, even if clutched from the jaws of defeat, vindicated Obama's preference of keeping cultural issues out of the forefront of the political debate. Throughout the year, Obama stuck to a largely behind-the-scenes strategy despite loud complaints from some gay activists that he was shortchanging the issue. In his State of the Union address, he called for repeal but was notably vague about the timing. He made few, if any, reported contacts with senators about repeal before the last couple of weeks. Obama never held a public or press event devoted to the issue, even as activists and lawmakers like Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) scrambled to breathe life into a repeal effort that repeatedly flat lined. "This is like Lazarus: this thing had four lives in the last two months. ... What we experienced today was not the result of a carefully crafted, well-laid-out plan or strategy. What we experienced today was a Christmas miracle," Mixner said. "The president can take a bow. He allowed this to happen. … without a question, if it hadn't passed it would have been devastating for him politically." Even the White House conceded in recent weeks that the prospects for repeal were slipping. Confident, almost boastful, predictions of the certainty of repeal a few months ago gave way this month to a description of repeal as a "strong possibility." But White House officials said the victory swept aside questions of strategy and the president's commitment. "We said this is going to get done in this Congress, and he did it," a senior White House official deeply involved in the repeal effort said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "It went into the final seconds of the game, but the field goal went through, and we won the game." Obama "spent a lot of time on the phone with members of both parties … doing a lot of handholding," said the official, who described the low-key, out-of-the-limelight approach as deliberate. "That is a strategy that we employed purposefully." Some gay activists also rejected the idea that the president did not mount a full-court press for repeal. "Obama more than any president has urged nondiscrimination in the military and it's my strong sense he's worked tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that the people who needed to lead this effort in the Pentagon and the Congress have done so," said C. Dixon Osburn, a gay advocate who founded the Servicemembers Legal Defense Fund 17 years ago. "One of the most significant things he's done was to realize that we needed to have the military leadership, Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen, out there in front." "I believe [Obama] deserves a great deal of credit," said Joe Solmonese of the Human Rights Campaign. "The administration understood that the key ingredient to getting this done was moving senators in the direction of repeal. …The administration played a very significant role in that dynamic." Still, the most prominent Republican backer of repeal, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), said she saw no political benefit for the president. "I don't see this as a political win for the president at all," Collins said. "What was the most persuasive was the testimony of Admiral Mullen, Secretary Gates, and the extensive report that the Pentagon did that showed that there was overwhelming acceptance of having gay service members." Collins also tweaked Democrats a bit by noting Clinton's role in establishing "don't ask." "It takes time for people to change long-held beliefs. I believe that if we had this vote five years ago, it would not have passed. Seventeen years ago, it was a Democratic president who signed into law 'don't ask don't tell,'" she said. "I think our society is changing, and it's important to remember who was in charge when this policy was enacted 17 years ago." During the debate Saturday, the most vocal critic of repeal, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), said he didn't view the issue as a cultural one — all while making a series of culturally freighted comments about "elite schools that bar military recruiters" and "the salons of Georgetown." "I understand the other side's argument as to their social-political agenda. I hope everybody recognizes that this debate is not about the broader social issues that are being discussed in our society, but what is in the best interest of our national security and our military during a time of war," McCain said. "I'm aware that this will probably pass today in a lame-duck session, and there'll be high fives all over the liberal bastions of America. We'll see the talk shows tomorrow a bunch of people talking about how great it is — most of 'em have not served in the military or maybe not even known someone in the military." Echoing comments from the commandant of the Marine Corps, McCain insisted that repealing "don't ask" would lead to injuries and even deaths of those in uniform. "There'll be additional sacrifice. … Don't think that it won't be at great cost," he said. "I hope that we understand that when we pass this legislation that we are doing great damage." Other Republicans said "don't ask" repeal would hasten a growing trend toward gay equality. "The military is the most trusted institution in American life," said David Frum, a speechwiter for President George W. Bush. "This vote means there will now be a large public population of openly gay veterans, gay combat veterans and decorated gay soldiers and officers, sailors, airmen and marines. That presence is going to be a very large fact on the ground. … People who want to wage cultural wars ought to keep in mind that cultural views often don't move at all for a very long time, but when they move they can move very fast." Gay activists said they expected implementation of the law to be relatively painless, as other countries have experienced. And, they said, "don't ask" repeal could set in motion future gay rights victories, including establishing rights to same-sex marriage. "I think any legislative victory in the direction of social change and equality lays down a foundation for the next one," Solmonese said. "It goes beyond just DADT," said Fred Sainz of HRC. "It will have a positive effect over time on marriage equality. … If you can give your life for your country and be openly gay or lesbian, how can you be denied the right to get married in your country?" One prominent supporter of gay rights who has yet to accept that argument is Obama, who still opposes recognition of same sex marriages. But that position is becoming increasingly untenable for Obama, gay activists say, as one well-known Republican after another signals support. So far, Vice President Dick Cheney, first lady Laura Bush, former Solicitor General Ted Olson, and former Republican National Committee Chair Ken Mehlman have all moved to the president's left on the marriage question. "Unless Democrats and the president quickly come to grips with the marriage equality issue, there's still massive trouble ahead. ... I think he will come to grips with it before 2012," Socarides said. Indeed, Obama hinted recently that his 2008 position on gay marriage might not be around for long. "Attitudes evolve, including mine," he told bloggers in October. "It is an issue that I wrestle with. ... I think it's fair to say that it's something that I think a lot about." Manu Raju, Jonathan Martin, Ben Smith and Scott Wong contributed to this report. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is a member of the Politico Network. 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| Gay troops may be right’s ally in cultural war - Boston Herald Posted: 29 Dec 2010 01:40 PM PST [fivefilters.org: unable to retrieve full-text content] S o now openly gay soldiers get to fight and die in neocon-imperialist wars too? Two decades ago, the gay left wanted to smash the bourgeois prisons of monogamy, capitalistic enterprise and patriotic values and bask in the warm sun of bohemian "free love ... |
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