SENATE REPEALS DONT ASK DONT TELL ALL CAPS

From The New York Times:

The Senate on Saturday struck down the ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military, bringing to a close a 17-year struggle over a policy that forced thousands of Americans from the ranks and caused others to keep secret their sexual orientation.

By a vote of 65 to 31, with eight Republicans joining Democrats, the Senate approved and sent to President Obama a repeal of the Clinton-era law, known as “don’t ask, don’t tell,” a policy critics said amounted to government-sanctioned discrimination that treated gay and lesbian troops as second-class citizens.

Mr. Obama hailed the action, which fulfills his pledge to reverse the ban. “As commander in chief, I am also absolutely convinced that making this change will only underscore the professionalism of our troops as the best led and best trained fighting force the world has ever known,” Mr. Obama said in a statement after the Senate, on a 63-33 vote, beat back Republican efforts to block a final vote on the repeal bill.

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Riese

Riese is the 41-year-old Co-Founder of Autostraddle.com as well as an award-winning writer, video-maker, LGBTQ+ Marketing consultant and aspiring cyber-performance artist who grew up in Michigan, lost her mind in New York and now lives in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in nine books, magazines including Marie Claire and Curve, and all over the web including Nylon, Queerty, Nerve, Bitch, Emily Books and Jezebel. She had a very popular personal blog once upon a time, and then she recapped The L Word, and then she had the idea to make this place, and now here we all are! In 2016, she was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Digital Journalism. She's Jewish and has a cute dog named Carol. Follow her on twitter and instagram.

Riese has written 3238 articles for us.

106 Comments

  1. Finally! I feel like we’ve been taking some serious hits in the self esteem groin this year. It’s nice to have some good news.

  3. I’m so happy! Now can we go back to loving Obama again? 15 years from now they’re gonna talk about Obama-era repeals of Clinton-era laws. I’m so proud of the president who isn’t even mine.

  4. with this good news nothing can keep me down!
    not even the lecture i got about how i need to “tone down the gay” and “let the homosexuals fight their own battles”. (legit quotes. i love the holidays).

  5. I found out from an iPhone in a car, and nearly hip-checked the driver when I dove towards the backseat to give/receive high fives.

  9. This whole process of DADT repeal has been one big lollercoaster.
    The whole DADT policy always made a feel a little
    http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lb6q2fW0YN1qb9qwwo1_400.jpg
    And then I heard it might be getting repealed, and of course initially I was all like
    http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/jezebel/2010/10/suspiciousblanche.gif
    But then things started getting underway and I was all
    http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l5bnncUg7c1qc8pyao1_500.jpg
    And then those fuckers fucked with us AGAIN and I was all
    http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lawj9f5uTD1qeolcio1_500.gif
    And then I was all
    http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lbrnw83cuN1qau7nq.gif
    And THEN I was all
    http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lck70q6LyM1qci2jbo1_500.jpg
    With a little bit of
    http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_la0f93XXUX1qakn9to1_400.gif
    BUT TODAY I READ ABOUT THIS.
    AND I AM ALL
    http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l5wgoaaEpQ1qzdf4xo1_500.png
    THEN
    http://onemansblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/inconceivable.jpg
    THEN
    http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/hprofile-ak-snc4/hs323.snc4/41574_327800299227_3561945_n.jpg
    THEN
    http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lcwzjqYuZn1qfo1n4o1_500.jpg
    And then I thought about the haters and I was like
    http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l51uxo4PkM1qzvevvo1_400.gif

    And now.
    http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/fdde61e6-24ce-4876-b174-3f96a034a367.jpg

    SO HAPPY <3

  10. I bet this isn’t the last we hear of this. They’ll drag it through some kind of appeal court thing. I hate war, our current military configuration, and the policies it is engaged in enforcing, but maybe this will make life a little better for some LGBT people. Wait… what is the military’s policy on trans people? Also, I wish this could be like, retroactive, and they give back the $$$ to gays who were discharged after working long enough to get retirement money but had all that taken away when they were discharged.

    • I fear you may be right.

      I dunno about the US military, but I do know that the Australian military (which allowed gays in during the 90s) only just decided to let trans people serve openly.

    • Canada allowing Gay, Lesbian and Transgendered peoples serve in the military since 1992. I think it should be our new tag line. Also I hear that if you are in the military and are transitioning they will pay for any operation costs. If you needed yet another reason to move to Canada there it is.

  12. I just high-fived everyone in the house.
    Tried explaining it to the Chilean dude who speaks no English, failed, and high-fived him anyway.

    WE WON SOMETHING!

    can this be the beginning of a winning streak?
    can we be like the patriots?

  21. There’s nobody inside my house right now, so I’m pretty much having my own personal pride parade for this.

  25. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
    yesterday i got into college, today this happens, saturday is christmas, my life can only go downhill from here.

    • I always found that saying weird…downhill from here. I mean, shouldn’t it be uphill from here, cos uphill is more difficult than downhill.

  26. wow. this is really real huh…?

    -having her faith in humanity partly restored, smartypants decided to celebrate with a glass of wine and a burrito.

    -oh yes she did!

  29. can we please make a fuckyeahsenate tumblr now?!?! i will even let joe lieberman be my honorary boyfriend.

  30. FUCK YES

    That is all.

    Oh, and I wish I knew if/how I could use HTML on here so that I could have written that in size 30 font with a rainbow glitter .gif behind it.

  33. Does this mean we can start fighting for things like housing and healthcare? Or for the rights of homeless youth? Or for employment security for trans people? Ooorrrr are we just gonna put everything into marriage now?

      • Because it never actually works out like that. I would be fine with all of the above, but issues that are not marriage/DOMA or (formerly) DADT get pushed to the side fairly regularly. HRC and No on 8/other marriage rights groups are the ones that receive the biggest donations and have the most national attention, and from what I have seen, they have done little to nothing in fighting for other, what I see as, far more fundamental causes. The people with the greatest need for services and activism from groups like the Sylvia Rivera Law Project or Queers for Economic Justice or the Ali Forney Center or the Howard Brown Center (which is going to close unless they come up with $500,000 by the end of the year due to a lack of funding) are not those that have the means to donate huge sums of money to them, so they suffer, and get pushed to the side while those who have money to donate donate to marriage rights groups.

        I see no problem in fighting for all of the above (I’ll leave my personal feelings about marriage out of this), but the problem is that they aren’t all being fought for equally, not even close. Some may see marriage as more important, but I really cannot see how anyone would rather have marriage rights over healthcare rights, or housing rights, or giving homeless queer kids a place to go so they get off the streets and don’t have to turn to sex work or selling drugs to keep themselves afloat.

  34. @HuffPostPol McCain on repealing DADT: ‘Today is a very sad day’ http://huff.to/eOtwDA

    That’s right, equality makes John McCain sad.

    I think it’s time we all consider the strong possibility that John McCain is He Who Must Not Be Named.

    Does anyone know if Senator Reid can do a petronus? This could be important.

      • SOMEONE TEACH ME HOW TO MAKE A LADY GAGA PETRONUS RIGHT NOW.

        In return I’ll teach you to slurp jell-o. I learned that at Girl Scout camp!

        • It’s a special patronus, only available when serious power against soul-suckers are needed… aka John McCain.

          and slurping jell-o sounded so very….gay. Maybe that’s a form of patronus only available to lesbians? I mean, you DID learn that at Girl Scout camp, and take it from someone who went to GS camps a lot… it’s a very very gay place.

          • Very very gay.

            Slurping jell-o is one of those life skills you don’t realize the practical applications of until much later than the age at which you learned it.

          • How did this thread of the conversation go from harry potter to…..”life skills?” Which is just a nice way of saying that it prepared you for your future sex life. You know, in case we were being too ambiguously gay.

          • “How did this thread of the conversation go from harry potter to…..’life skills?’ ”

            I haven’t seen my GF in 6 months, THAT’S HOW. Just be amazed it didn’t go there sooner.

          • Truth: I damn near killed myself while driving in the car the other day because I was slurping jello.

            Wouldn’t THAT have been a stupid way to die.

            Obvs, I went to the wrong GS camp.

            And yet STILL managed to find my way to gay.

  35. “Some people have said this isn’t the time for repeal. They were right. It should have been done yesterday.” Such a good quote.

  36. Thank you American Government for a gift I actually wanted for Christmas !!!!!!!! I actually feel proud that I voted and didn’t say well it never makes a difference anyway.

  37. YESSS!! My friend texted me this whilst I was out at a family gathering. I had to keep mum and just smile happily at my phone whilst texting back lots of exclamation points. So happy. Just now waiting for the 3 steps back that always seem to come with our one step forward… sorry to be a bit of a pessimist.

  42. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Even though I’ve never wanted to join the military (I’m a staunch pacifist) and being bisexual did provide a handy excuse for pushy military recruiters.

    But I’m very happy that LGBT people who WANT to serve will get the chance.

  43. Can I just say that the whole night our toasts were to ” fuck yea DADT was repealed!” and ” Fuck you, John McCain”. It was a pretty good night for celebration, plus there were drag queens. It’s always a good night when drag queens are about.

  44. I don’t live in America and I have no plans to join the military (American or otherwise.) Still. FUCK YEAH WE WON. IN YOUR FACE MCCAIN.

  45. this is a thing that happened yesterday:

    I’m in the military, and I wanted to come out to my brother yesterday because I had been visiting him and was getting ready to leave. My brother’s wife helped me, and I finally got the words out and my brother was awesome! Then he asked me about DADT, and I was all like “well the Senate was supposed to vote today, we should check” so my sister-in-law brought me a computer and I checked the news to see the vote had passed! and my brother and sister were happy for me and I was happy because now all my most important people know I’m gay and DADT was repealed in the Senate on the same day!

    following this, once I left my brother texted me and asked me what my scrub size because he found some rainbow scrubs for me to wear, which made me even happier because it was his way of joking with me about being gay and telling me that he really does accept me! life is good!

    also, suck it, john mccain.

  46. LT – Awesome. Congratulations!

    I’m openly gay and am starting a 4 year term in the Marine Corps in just a few months.

    There’s a lot of messed up stuff in our world, but right now I just feel incredibly lucky for being born in the right place at the right time.

    Everybody should throw a few bucks at their favorite homogay advocacy org (and autostraddle, duh) – for keeping the hope alive and breaking down doors in washington to get this done.

  47. yeh yeh yeh. i had been partying hard/ sleeping while this was going down but waking up to the news was good shit and took the edge off a bit.

  49. im not trying 2 hate…not purposely…

    but i just feel so unimpressed by all of this.

    to me it’s the equivalent of praising a man that takes care of his out of wedlock babies.

    why should i praise someone for doing what they’re SUPPOSED to do??

    fuck congress. fuck congratulating them or obama for making this change or repealing this DADT policy.

    fuck them and clinton too. thanks for finally seeing the proverbial light and doing the right thing.

    the only love i wanna send out is to all the men and women in the service who have been unfairly discharged due to their sexual orientation (god that terms is sooo clinical).

    let’s see if DADT gets them re-instated.

    • But, like–this isn’t praise. This is just . . . is there an word for that feeling where you’re used to Crazy winning every time, even though it’s Crazy, and then suddenly Crazy doesn’t win? I bet German has one.

      • Literally: “verrückte Leute nicht gewinnen” [crazy people didn’t win]

        A nice proverb: Geduld bringt Rosen [Patience Brings Roses]
        They’ve still got thorns, but hey, pretty roses!

        *Anyone who actually knows German, correct me if necessary*

        Geeking it up for fun and games. Genießen!

  50. [URL=http://img255.imageshack.us/i/gagazc.jpg/][IMG]http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/8109/gagazc.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

    Made just for this very special event ;)

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