OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Floor Speech

Date: July 21, 2010
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Military Personnel Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

Mr. QUIGLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to reaffirm my commitment to an immediate repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

I applaud the Department of Defense for initiating a plan, but I remain deeply disappointed that instead of moving forward immediately, we are on hold. We are spending millions on a 32-page survey asking servicemembers how they feel about the repeal when polls show that this is unnecessary.

What's worse, as a country founded on liberty and equality, we are denying basic human rights to some of our brave men and women who are defending those very principles. And, unlike more than 25 of our allies, including every original NATO signatory other than the U.S. and Turkey, we have not ended discrimination.

Experts say what is needed is not a study but, rather, a quick and authoritative top-down repeal. Our military leaders must act now before our pace destroys our mission.


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