Word: bans
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Obama Administration, in its brief in the case last month, said a lower court acted properly in upholding the gay ban. "Applying the strong deference traditionally afforded to the Legislative and Executive Branches in the area of military affairs, the court of appeals properly upheld the statute," argued Elena Kagan, who as Solicitor General represents the Administration before the Supreme Court. The bar on gays serving openly is "rationally related to the government's legitimate interest in military discipline and cohesion," her 12-page filing added...
...conservative positions, including endorsing military commissions to try purported terrorists, and declining to release a second batch of photographs depicting alleged U.S. maltreatment of Iraqi detainees. His stance on "Don't ask, don't tell" may be more surprising, because Obama aides have made clear the President wants the ban lifted eventually. (Watch a gay marriage wedding video...
Pietrangelo doesn't buy the line from Obama aides - and the Pentagon - that they're too busy grappling with a faltering economy and two wars to handle the gay ban right away. "It's a complete lie that he has too much stuff on his plate - this is the guy who criticized Bush for not being able to multitask," Pietrangelo says. "We have an old saying in the military - the maximum effective range of an excuse is zero meters...
...Obama decided to go around the legislature, he would face political blowback. The current law allows gays to serve, so long as they keep their sexual orientation secret. The legislation means that a majority of the 535 members of Congress is going to have to vote to undo the ban - and that will have its political fallout. Obama is plainly taking his cue from the 1993 fiasco, which hurt Clinton's relationship with conservative members of Congress, both Democratic and Republican, and with many in uniform...
...Obama also has some ammunition that Clinton never had: a new Gallup poll finds that most conservatives - 58% - now support openly gay people serving in uniform (nationally, 69% support the change; when Clinton assumed office, a Gallup poll found 53% of those polled opposed lifting the ban). Perhaps even more surprising, 58% of self-described Republicans, and 60% of weekly churchgoers, also support gay men and women serving openly in uniform. "While the Administration to date has not taken action on the issue," the polling firm reported last Friday, "the Gallup Poll data indicate that the public-opinion environment favors...