Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Update

Twin measures passed the full House and the Senate Armed Services Committee on repealing the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy this week.  While this does not mean the policy has been eliminated, these two votes represented the biggest hurdles that stood in the way of repeal.

Please note that a compromise was struck in order to secure sufficient votes: the President, the defense secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are authorized to implement repeal only when they are satisfied that the military’s readiness, recruiting, retention and morale would not be adversely impacted.  As a result, NASW will continue lobbying on this issue until repeal has fully and completely occurred.

Thanks to those who responded to our action alerts on this issue.

You can find more information about LGBT issues on our web site at http://www.socialworkers.org/diversity/new/glbt.asp.