This Week Is Do-Or-Die For DADT

This is how not-gay Lindsey Graham is: He stands united with his buddy John McCain against letting gays openly serve in the military. And McCain says Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is awesome. Katherine Miller begs to differ.

This is crunchtime for the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal: The long-awaited Pentagon report, which we already know will show that servicemembers aren’t as homophobic as John McCain, is officially released tomorrow, and top military brass will testify before the Senate on Thursday and Friday.

But that’s not good enough for the Republicans, who aren’t interested in handing Obama a lameduck Senate session victory. Lindsey Graham said he wants another report: “The study I would be looking for is asking military members: Should it be repealed, not how to implement it once you as a politician decide to repeal it,” he said this weekend. The study I would be looking for is how this man looks himself in the mirror.

Meanwhile, Katherine Miller, the high-achieving lesbian cadet who resigned from West Point earlier this year, is preparing her application to return if Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is repealed. Of simply keeping quiet about her sexuality, she told The Associated Press, “It was definitely an option. I just chose not to live my life that way. I’m pretty stubborn in my values. I needed to get out and declare who I was.”

If only some of our elected officials were nearly so forthright — about their pandering to homophobia, that is.

Lindsey Graham: ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Is Not Going Anywhere’ [HP]
Lesbian Cadet Who Quit Seeks Return To West Point [AP]
A Final Push To Repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell [NPR]