Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

The Trib …weighing in on Congressional vote to authorize DADT repeal. 

During an all-day House debate on the bill approving more than $700 billion in spending for defense programs, Republicans repeated statements by military service chiefs that Congress should not act before the Pentagon completes a study on the impact of a repeal.

Congress going first “is the equivalent to turning to our men and women in uniform and their families and saying, 'Your opinion, your view, do not count,'” said Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon of California, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee.

What we don't see is any commitment or promise from Republicans to support the repeal if the Pentagon report gives a thumb up.  Because they are counting on?

The chief sponsor of the amendment, Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa., who served in the Iraq War, said that when he was in Baghdad “my teams did not care whether a fellow soldier was straight or gay if they could fire their assault rifle or run a convoy down ambush alley and do their job so everyone would come home safely.”

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said that of the 13,500 members of the military who have been discharged under “don't ask, don't tell,” more than 1,000 filled critical occupations, such as engineers and interpreters.

Once again it seems the personal bigotries of homophobic soldiers carry more weight than the best interests of the nation's defense. 

So we wait to see (assuming the Senate takes action) how these “what the Pentagon report finds” folks respond if that report creates a reasonable implementaton process.  Hmmm.