[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 140 (Tuesday, September 20, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5731-S5732]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL

  Mr. REID. Madam President, 60 years ago this Nation's Armed Forces 
were segregated by race. Thirty-five years ago women were not allowed 
to attend our Nation's military academies. Until today--in fact, last 
night at midnight--thousands and thousands of qualified, dedicated men 
and women were barred from military service or expelled from the Armed 
Forces because they were honest about their sexual orientation. Today I 
am glad to say the time has passed when Americans, willing to give 
their lives to defend this great Nation, could be turned away from 
service because of who they loved. Today, don't ask, don't tell is no 
longer the law of the land. For 17 years we have asked our soldiers to 
defend a flag that stands for liberty and justice for all, and then 
required some of those soldiers to keep who they were a secret. In too 
many cases we have robbed them of their right to fight for their 
country altogether.
  Listen to this staggering number: More than 13,000 American

[[Page S5732]]

servicemembers have been discharged because of this law. The law has 
been in effect just a short period of time but more than 13,000 have 
been discharged because of this law which institutionalized 
discrimination against openly gay soldiers, sailors, marines, and 
airmen. I say ``openly gay.'' This wasn't the case. Some were suspect. 
There was a long interview on Public Broadcasting this morning about a 
woman who was discharged at age 22 because of someone reporting they 
had seen her in a bar with another woman. We will never know how many 
people; that is, capable men and women, were never offered patriotic 
service. They could not because the law exposed them to career-ruining 
discrimination. We have the 13,000-plus, plus thousands of others who 
said there is no need to do this because I would have to live a lie.
  The military's highest commanders and a vast majority of 
servicemembers agree our fighting force is better off knowing we will 
have the best and brightest volunteers, regardless of sexual 
orientation, race, ethnicity, religion, or gender. There is no place 
for intolerance in our great Nation and certainly not in our Armed 
Forces tasked with protecting them.
  I am happy to say that today our military policies and our national 
values are in line. From today forward, no qualified man or woman 
willing to fight for a nation founded on the principles of tolerance 
and equality will ever again be denied the right to do so.

                          ____________________