Repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell

Floor Speech

Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize the repeal of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell law. Today marks the end of the 60-day waiting period following notification to Congress that the necessary certifications were made by the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff regarding this change in policy. I am pleased that this discriminatory law was relegated to the past early this morning at midnight.

I am proud to have played a role in this repeal, and I thank my colleague Senator Lieberman who, when prospects seemed most dire, worked with me to develop a strategy to pass a stand-alone version of the bill that ultimately resulted in repeal of DADT.

It was almost 4 years ago when I first asked ADM Michael Mullen, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. That was the first, but not the last, time that Admiral Mullen courageously testified in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee about the need to debate and evaluate the DADT policy.

It seemed to me then--as it does now--that our Nation should not refuse the service of patriots who willingly answer the call to arms, simply on the basis of their sexual orientation. If individuals are willing to put on the uniform of our country, to be deployed in war zones like Iraq and Afghanistan, to risk their lives for the benefit of their fellow citizens, then we should be expressing our gratitude to them, not trying to exclude them from serving or expelling them from the military.

Since 1993, more than 13,000 men and women have been dismissed from service and countless more have been barred from serving. Society has changed a great deal in the last 18 years since President Clinton signed the ``Don't Ask, Don't Tell'' law, and I am proud Congress took the lead to repeal the law.

I thank the LGBT community for their outreach and support of this effort. I especially was honored by the number of servicemembers both active duty and retired who have thanked me for this effort, or who have shared their personal story of how the law was affecting their lives. I recently received one of those stories on a postcard with a stamp from overseas that was signed ``An Army Soldier.'' I would like to have his message printed in the Record because his words represent the sentiment of so many other brave men and women of our fighting forces.

His postcard says this:

Dear Senator Collins, I will still be deployed in Afghanistan on 20 September when [Don't Ask, Don't Tell] is finally repealed. It will take a huge burden off my shoulders--a combat zone is stressful enough on its own.......I will repay your courage with continued professionalism.

With a spirit of service such as this, is there any doubt we should be welcoming this warrior into our military? I want to thank this anonymous soldier for taking the time to share this important message with me and with my colleagues. Because of soldiers like him, our country remains strong and our military united in a common cause with the freedom of individual expression guaranteed by the liberties they fight to preserve.

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