 I urge you to support the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, to repeal the discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" statute banning open military service by lesbian, gay, and bisexual Americans. The Military Readiness Enhancement Act was reintroduced on February 28 with the support of 109 bi-partisan original cosponsors. Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) is now the lead sponsor, and is joined by 136 bi-partisan cosponsors and counting. I urge you to support this measure by becoming a cosponsor now. The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" statute is the only federal law that mandates firing a person because of their sexual orientation. The statute forces patriotic lesbian, gay, and bisexual Americans who want to serve our country to compromise their integrity for their right to serve. No one willing to volunteer to serve in a time of war should have to sacrifice their right to be honest about who they are as a condition of their military service. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is a discriminatory law and it is wrong. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" applies to all Americans serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, including active duty, Reserve, and National Guard personnel. Over two million Americans serving in uniform today are bound by this discriminatory law; among them, an estimated 65,000 lesbian, gay, and bisexual Americans in uniform live with the constant threat of a career-ending discharge under the ban. This is no way to treat patriotic Americans who volunteer to serve our nation in its time of need. Over 12,500 Americans have been discharged under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in the last twelve years - an average of two people per day. Our government has spent over $363 million in tax payer dollars firing desperately needed military linguists, pilots, doctors, intelligence analysts, nurses, and others with critical skills we need in this time of conflict. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is wasteful, discriminatory, and harms our military. I urge you to support the Military Readiness Enhancement Act by becoming a cosponsor.
|
SIGNED BY |
