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Obama 'disappointed' by military gay ban vote
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Obama 'disappointed' by military gay ban vote
AFP - Friday, December 10
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Obama 'disappointed' by military gay ban vote
WASHINGTON (AFP) - – The US Senate dealt a potentially deadly blow Thursday to efforts to end a ban on gays serving openly in the US military, a setback to a "deeply disappointed" President Barack Obama.
Lawmakers voted 57-40 -- three votes short of the 60 needed -- to move forward with annual military spending legislation that included a measure ending the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
The motion was a disappointment for Obama, who has made repealing the 1993 law a priority in the "lame duck" session of Congress between November elections and the end of the year.
He admonished a "minority of senators" for blocking the legislation because of their opposition to ending the ban.
"As commander in chief, I have pledged to repeal this discriminatory law, a step supported by the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff... A great majority of the American people agree," Obama said in a statement.
"This law weakens our national security, diminishes our military readiness and violates fundamental American principles of fairness, integrity and equality."
He urged senators to take up the issue again before the end of the year.
Republicans, who oppose scrapping the ban, will take control of the House of Representatives from January and Democrats in the Senate will see their majority dwindle to 53 out of 100, meaning the move is unlikely to pass during the next session of Congress either.
The law, adopted as a compromise under former president Bill Clinton and now opposed by a majority of Americans according to numerous polls, requires gay and lesbian troops to keep their sexual orientation to themselves or face discharge.
Senator Susan Collins of Maine was the lone Republican voting in favor of ending the ban, but she was not joined by any of her colleagues, who say it would disrupt military discipline and readiness at a time when US troops are fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Immediately after the vote, Collins and independent Senator Joe Lieberman said they will jointly introduce a separate bill to end the ban, saying a stand-alone measure had better chances of garnering the necessary support from three fifths of the Senate.
Activists said they were "deeply disappointed" by the vote.
"This continued delay is an outrage against these service members and the more than 14,000 who have already lost their jobs under this discriminatory law," said US Army veteran Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.
Urging supporters to protest outside the Senate on Friday, Sarvis warned that "history will hold these senators accountable and so will many of their constituents. There will be no place for these Senators to hide."
Log Cabin Republicans executive director R. Clarke Cooper said his gay rights group was "angered" and "disappointed."
"Today could have been a day of celebration for all Americans who support our servicemembers to serve both honorably and honestly," he said.
"Instead, brave men and women will continue to serve under a failed and unconstitutional policy that has been firmly rejected by the American people, the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff."
Collins said she supported the repeal but that Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid should first come up with a "fair process" to ensure Republican support or the bill "would likely fail."
A small group of Republicans who said they supported ending the ban had wanted more time to negotiate the voting process first.
The repeal measure was folded into a massive military spending bill, prompting a veterans group to hit out at senators for delaying the funds.
"By voting to filibuster the Defense Authorization Act, today, a minority of senators have betrayed our troops," said Iraq war veteran Ashwin Madia, interim chairman of VoteVets.org.
"Leaving aside 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' this bill is crucial to our military readiness, and funding our troops in harm's way."
Just before the voting got underway, Reid acknowledged that the procedural wrangling would likely doom his efforts.
"Despite the critical importance for our troops, for our nation and for justice that we get this bill done, we have not been able to reach an agreement," he said in a speech on the Senate floor.
"And I regret to say that it is our troops who will pay the price for our inability to overcome partisan political posturing."
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