Senate Republicans block repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

Washington D.C., Dec 9, 2010 / 15:41 pm

Republican congressmen blocked the Senate from being able to vote on repealing the controversial “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” legislation, which bans open homosexuals from serving in the military. 

The move is being hailed by family and pro-life organizations as a victory for servicemen and women and their families.

On Dec. 9, a 57- 40 test vote in the Senate failed to garner the 60 votes needed to progress the bill on to an official vote. The dismissed legislation – called the Defense Authorization Act of 2011 – would have, among other things, repealed the 1993 “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy, as well as enabled military bases at home and abroad to begin providing abortions.

Dr. Chairmaine Yoest, head of Americans United for Life Action, said Dec. 9 that she applauded “the outstanding leaders in the Senate who led the fight to win today’s key vote rejecting taxpayer-funded abortion in the military.”

“We know that more than 70 percent of Americans oppose taxpayer funding of abortion,” she added, 
“and this vote reflected the moral and fiscal values of Americans.”

Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council, also issued a statement after the legislation's defeat, saying that the U.S. Senate “has rejected an insistent liberal social agenda and delivered a victory for the men and women of our Armed Forces.”

Perkins remarked that despite continued attempts by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to “use the military to advance this agenda,” a bi-partisan group of senators has “soundly declared that they will side with the priorities of the American people.”