Jason Bellini, a freelance TV journalist, did a comprehensive report for the Daily Beast today exposing inside the beltway gay rights organization the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) as the culprit behind the delay of a repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.
In his report, Mr. Bellini disclosed that Sen. Chuch Schumer of New York slipped and told a group of gay leaders that HRC told President Obama that DADT is not a White House priority this year. It was learned that gay rights leaders in Washington had made a deal with House members that DADT is not a priority until sometime next year. HRC reportedly is pushing for the passage of Hate Crimes Law and the Employment Non-discrimination Act this year.
Joe Solmonese, executive director of HRC told the New York Times:
They have a vision (the White House), they have a plan for gay rights.
Openly gay Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin stated:
We wanna start with measures that there’s a fairly widespread understanding among members of Congress, they voted on it before. We can’t bring something to the floor of the house until we know we have the votes. Until we know we have done that education necessary to pass…
Ironically, Senator Joe Sestak of Pennsylvannia, another Democrat who is taking on the DADT policy because of his military experience, and is one of the co-sponsors of a bill in Congress that, if passed, will repeal DADT stated:
I think at the end of the day, if we get it to the floor it’s gonna pass.
Many outside the beltway activist such as Lt. Daniel Choi is asking for a stop loss order effectively halting the discharge of openly gay soldiers and not wait for Congress to act on the DADT policy.
Lt. Daniel Choi stated:
I am not gonna be silent! I’m not gonna shut up! There are too many soldiers (gay) that are serving in Iraq. There are too many soldiers serving in Afghanistan.
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UPDATE:
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On Friday, June 5th, blogger Pam Spaudling of Pam’s House Blend wrote a comprehensive post that Joe Solmonese of HRC has gone on the Michelangelo Signorile radio show as well as Chris Matthew’s Hardball to deny Jason Bellini’s report on the Daily Beast. Mr. Solmonese has also joined a growing chorus of other advocacy organizations calling on President Barack Obama to sign an executive order suspending “don’t ask, don’t tell,” using his “stop-loss” authority.
