FROM A NEWS RELEASE
Posted May 27, 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Servicemembers United, the nation’s largest organization of gay and lesbian troops and veterans, issued the following statement today on the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, which included amendments from Representatives Hunter, Akin, and others to slow down the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and discriminate against LGBT servicemembers:
“The passage of the defense authorization bill with these hostile amendments included comes as no surprise, and it should not become a cause for concern as long as our allies in the Senate and the President all stand strong and refuse to support a defense bill containing these amendments,” said Alexander Nicholson, Executive Director of Servicemembers United and a former Army Interrogator who was discharged under DADT. “These amendments were nothing short of a waste of time by lawmakers who were sent to Washington to do serious business and a waste of taxpayer money. The Pentagon, the President, and the American people have made it abundantly clear – we are moving forward and building a stronger military free of unnecessary discrimination.”
For more information about Servicemembers United and the gay military community, please visit our new home on the web at www.servicemembers.org.