Oklahoma Bill Wants to Bring 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Back From the Dead
Just when you thought 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' was over, a lawmaker in Oklahoma is aggressively trying to bring it back. If you need a little refresher, 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' was the highly controversial law that barred gay and lesbian service members from serving openly in the U.S. military. It was finally repealed in September of last year.
The bill goes beyond the discrimination contained in the now-repealed DADT statute.
Oklahoma State Rep. Mike Reynolds claims he's striving to put this law in place at the request of some of the Oklahoma National Guard members. According to Tulsa World, Reynolds says the state can set its own standards for the National Guard, and they don't need to duplicate U.S. military standards.
The Human Rights Campaign and The Equality Network released a statement explaining how this bill takes discrimination to a whole new level:
The bill goes beyond the discrimination contained in the now-repealed DADT statute, and allows government officials to directly question someone about their sexual orientation – essentially removing the “Don’t Ask” component contained in DADT.
The bottom line is this proposed law is unjust and needs to be stopped. You can take action today by sending Rep. Reynolds a letter telling him to pull his support for this outdated and discriminatory bill:
Or by contacting the members of the House Veterans and Military Affairs Commitee to urge them to vote NO on Reynolds' proposed bill:
Comments