No Change on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

Gates: No Change Soon on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
WASHINGTON (AP) — Don't expect any change soon to the "don't ask, don't tell" policy about gays in the military.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates says both he and President Barack Obama have "a lot on our plates right now." As Gates puts it, "let's push that one down the road a little bit."

The White House has said Obama has begun consulting with Gates and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on how to lift the ban. Gates says that dialogue has not really progressed very far at this point in the administration.

The Pentagon policy was put in place after President Bill Clinton tried to lift the ban on gay service members in 1993.

The policy refers to the military practice of not asking recruits their sexual orientation. In turn, service members are banned from saying they are gay or bisexual, engaging in homosexual activity or trying to marry a member of the same sex.

Gates appeared on Fox News Sunday.

The Associated Press
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Looks like the Obama administration will not even attempt to address the big LGBT issues in the next four years. Nothing on Don't Ask, Don't Tell, or the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). If this Democratic administration and Congress does not at least pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), they will loose even more progressive LGBT voters. Many of us are switching to parties that DO support equal rights for everyone without political compromises (like the Green Party and the Socialist Party USA).

It's not just LGBT issues, from continuing many of the Bush administration policies on the "war on terror" to escalating the military occupation of Afghanistan, not holding Bush administration officials accountable for their crimes, to snoozing up to the CEO's on Wall Street and continuing Bush policies to "bail out" the financial institutions that caused the Great Recession, Obama has not fulfilled his promise of CHANGE. While he has met with every "moderate-centrist" group in Washington DC, he has yet to invite the Progressive caucus to a meeting, and tried to shut single-payer health care advocates out of the "health care summit". From the economy and war to health care and gay rights, Obama is ignoring the progressives who helped get him elected. This is looking more and more like a repeat of the Bill Clinton fiasco. THIS IS NOT CHANGE!