[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 13899]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    REPEAL OF DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL

  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize the repeal of 
the Don't Ask, Don't Tell law. Today marks the end of the 60-day 
waiting period following notification to Congress that the necessary 
certifications were made by the President, the Secretary of Defense, 
and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff regarding this change in 
policy. I am pleased that this discriminatory law was relegated to the 
past early this morning at midnight.
  I am proud to have played a role in this repeal, and I thank my 
colleague Senator Lieberman who, when prospects seemed most dire, 
worked with me to develop a strategy to pass a stand-alone version of 
the bill that ultimately resulted in repeal of DADT.
  It was almost 4 years ago when I first asked ADM Michael Mullen, then 
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about the Don't Ask, Don't Tell 
policy. That was the first, but not the last, time that Admiral Mullen 
courageously testified in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee 
about the need to debate and evaluate the DADT policy.
  It seemed to me then--as it does now--that our Nation should not 
refuse the service of patriots who willingly answer the call to arms, 
simply on the basis of their sexual orientation. If individuals are 
willing to put on the uniform of our country, to be deployed in war 
zones like Iraq and Afghanistan, to risk their lives for the benefit of 
their fellow citizens, then we should be expressing our gratitude to 
them, not trying to exclude them from serving or expelling them from 
the military.
  Since 1993, more than 13,000 men and women have been dismissed from 
service and countless more have been barred from serving. Society has 
changed a great deal in the last 18 years since President Clinton 
signed the ``Don't Ask, Don't Tell'' law, and I am proud Congress took 
the lead to repeal the law.
  I thank the LGBT community for their outreach and support of this 
effort. I especially was honored by the number of servicemembers both 
active duty and retired who have thanked me for this effort, or who 
have shared their personal story of how the law was affecting their 
lives. I recently received one of those stories on a postcard with a 
stamp from overseas that was signed ``An Army Soldier.'' I would like 
to have his message printed in the Record because his words represent 
the sentiment of so many other brave men and women of our fighting 
forces.
  His postcard says this:

       Dear Senator Collins, I will still be deployed in 
     Afghanistan on 20 September when [Don't Ask, Don't Tell] is 
     finally repealed. It will take a huge burden off my 
     shoulders--a combat zone is stressful enough on its own . . . 
     I will repay your courage with continued professionalism.

  With a spirit of service such as this, is there any doubt we should 
be welcoming this warrior into our military? I want to thank this 
anonymous soldier for taking the time to share this important message 
with me and with my colleagues. Because of soldiers like him, our 
country remains strong and our military united in a common cause with 
the freedom of individual expression guaranteed by the liberties they 
fight to preserve.

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