House Passes Bill Aimed at Slowing DADT Repeal, Obama is Officially Upset

The U.S. House passed a defense bill that includes not one but THREE anti-gay amendments. Hey, at least they’re being efficient with the hate these days. Let’s tackle these one at a time, shall we? (Keep in mind that these amendments would have to pass the Senate before they would become effective.)

Amendment one aims to slow the DADT repeal by requiring all four service branch chiefs to sign off on the policy change. It seems that is a departure from the current plan, which involves a cooperative decision by the Secretary of Defense, the President, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. The amendment adds in four other people who are probably less likely to give the repeal the go-ahead. It basically gives the armed services a free pass to say no thanks and keep DADT in place. Once again, let’s point out that DADT does not prevent gay soldiers from serving, it just hurts them once they sign up. There have always been and will always be gay service members, no matter what Congress does.

Amendment two restates that the Defense of Marriage Act still applies to the Department of Defense. You know, in case anyone had forgotten that there is a federal ban on recognizing same-sex couples. Just fyi guys, purely informational, you know! The government still hates the gays, write that down.

Amendment three prohibits same-sex weddings on military property. Ok, seriously? This is just mean. It looks like a backstop measure in case they can’t prevent the repeal of DADT. So instead of letting everyone be equal when that happens, America is going to throw one last “fuck you” at our own soldiers? Classy.

Obama signing the DADT repeal in December

Obama is not happy about this bill. His office released a statement a few days ago objecting to all three of these sections. On DADT:

“The Administration strongly objects to any legislative attempts (such as section 533) to directly or indirectly undermine, prevent, or delay the implementation of the repeal, as such efforts create uncertainty for servicemembers and their families.”

And on DOMA:

“The Administration strongly objects to sections 534 and 535, believes that section 3 of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is discriminatory, and supports DOMA’s repeal.”

That’s right, he said he supports DOMA’s repeal, not just that he will not defend it in the Second Circuit courts. Obama has become a stronger gay rights advocate every day of his presidency. I cannot wait to see how those issues play out during the next election. One thing we already know is that the HRC has officially backed Obama already — a move not everybody’s happy about.

For now, this bill moves to the Senate. Let’s be honest, it would have no chance there, even without Obama’s statement. I, for one, am tired of the House taking cheap shots at gay rights that have no chance of becoming law. I don’t understand why they don’t just focus on fixing the deficit or addressing the thing they complain about. At least I could respect that.