Tag Archives: Servicemembers United

Alex Nicholson Executive Director Of Servicemembers United: The Human Rights Campaign KNEW The White House Was NOT Committed To Repeal DADT This Year!

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Alex Nicholson, founder of Servicemembers United breaking his silence about the Human Rights Campaign, which SU works closely with to battle DADT.

Nicholson confirmed that he attended a February 1 meeting at the White House which the Human Rights Campaign attended, and his group has been closely tied to HRC. The larger and more outspoken and vocally critical LGBT lobbying group on the issue, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (whose executive director, Aubrey Sarvis, has been critical of the president’s foot-dragging), was not invited to that meeting, a fact that was revealed during our LGBT Leadership Town Hall last month
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Nicholson confirmed that the White House’s and Secretary Gates’ message are one in the same, in terms of wanting to put off repeal until the DOD study is done and not wanting to include repeal in the Defense Authorization Bill. A lot of controversy had surrounded HRC regarding what was said to HRC and others in that Feb 1 meeting. Rather than sounding the alarm that the White House was not committed to repeal this year, HRC came out of that meeting still defending the president and confident that repeal would happen. HRC downplayed what was said at that meeting after it was reported on in April.Nicholson, however, said the outcome of the meeting should have been cause for alarm, that the White House has indicated,including at that February 1 meeting, it would be a “passive” supporter of repeal this year:

“I’ll say, honestly, first of all, that I don’t think HRC has not done everything they could to put pressure the WH. I believe there are some there who believe they have done everything they can…I think there are others who may have other agendas and professional careers and things like that to worry about. I have been begging HRC to scale up their operations on don’t ask, don’t tell since early last summer…Realistically, I do think there was more they could do earlier this year, and I think there was more they could do last year…I would have loved to have seen the ramping up going on a year ago. You can’t build the infrastructure…in a matter of two months…That needed to happen last summer.”

So there we have it.  Concrete proof and confirmation from someone on the inside that HRC is a bunch of liars with an agenda.  And that agenda.  Get your money and keep thier jobs as long as possible.

After all.  if we get equality, they are out of business.

You can listen to Alex’s interview with Michelangel Signorile by CLICKING HERE.

Number Of Gay Service Members Discharged In 2009 Under Obama’s Watch – 443!

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Released today by Servicemembers United is the final tally of discharges under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” for the 2009 fiscal year under Obama’s watch.

“The annual fiscal year ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ discharge statistic combines the total number of discharges reported by the Department of Defense, which was 428, with the total number of discharges reported by the Department of Homeland Security for the Coast Guard, which was 15. This brings the official 17-year total, according to the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security, to 13,425 discharges under ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

Although only 443 total discharges are included in the official statistic for fiscal year 2009, the true number of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ discharges is very likely higher. When pressed by Servicemembers United, the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Freedom of Information Office confirmed on three separate occasions in late 2009 and early 2010 that the internal source of their annual ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ discharge numbers is the Defense Manpower Data Center, and that Defense Manpower Data Center statistics do not include discharges from the Reserves or the National Guard….The Department of Defense in general – and the Defense Manpower Data Center specifically – has consistently failed to disclose full information and data related to ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ discharges in blatant violation of the Freedom of Information Act. In response to one request for information by Servicemembers United in mid-2009, the Department of Defense took more than twice the amount of time allowable by law to produce less than one-tenth of one percent of the requested data – data that was not classified and not protected by the Privacy Act. Information requests from members of Congress, including House Armed Services Committee members, have also been only partially filled.”

Remember kids that all 443 discharges could have been stooped by a swipe of Obama’s pen on an Executive Order.

Leiberman/Levin FINALLY Introduce DADT Repeal Bill (Video)

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Leiberman, (I still can’t believe they picked this traitorous Democrat to head the Repeal Bill) has stated that “It will repeal the law that prevents gay Americans from openly serving in the military, prohibit discrimination against service members on the basis of sexual orientation, and promote the establishment of Reserve Officer Training Corps units at elite colleges and universities.”

Thats great!  But BOTH Lieberman and Levin have also stated that confessed that there might be a need for a back-up plan should the bill not garner enough supporters to pass. From Politico:

“Lieberman stressed the support for a repeal of the bill among the American people, but admitted that he’s short of the 60 he’d need in the Senate.

‘We don’t have 60 votes today-that’s our battle,’ he said. ‘If the votes aren’t there, a moratorium would be a good step.'”

So the REAL question is why the hell is it with over 70 percent of Americans saying that its time for a repeal that there aren’t 60 Votes and why don;t they show some real transparency for a change and tell us who the holdouts are instead of covering thier fat and pompous political asses?

Servicemembers United has called on not only Levin,  (Interesting how they skipped Leiberman isn’t it.) but also Obama to TAKE ACTION NOW!

While the new bill will still have to work its way through the normal legislative process, two supporting actions will be needed to ensure passage of the bill in 2010. First, President Obama can and should include explicit repeal language in one of the Defense Department’s legislative proposal packages that will be transmitted to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees over the next two months. This would be the single most critical action the President can still take to ensure repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law in 2010.

Second, Senator Carl Levin, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, should ensure that full repeal language is included in the original draft of the Fiscal Year 2011 National Defense Authorization Act that is crafted within his committee. These two actions together can ensure that the necessary support is in place to secure the needed votes for repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law in 2010.