By Kate Sosin
LGBT Americans are increasingly confused about the state of a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ( DADT ) repeal, said Bill Weeks, the political co-chair of the chicago chapter of the Human Rights Campaign ( HRC ) .
That confusion is the target of two town-hall meetings organized in Illinois by HRC, American Veterans for Equal Rights-Chicago, Log Cabin Republicans and the new organization known as the Civil Rights Agenda. The first meeting was held June 15 at the Center on Halsted.
About 20 community members attended the event, where former service people and HRC staff explained the state of DADT and fielded questions about its pending repeal. Bridget Altenburg, Marquell Smith and Lee Reinhart told their personal stories of being discharged under DADT.
The panelists said that LGBT people and allies need to pressure their senators to vote for a repeal.
"What we can do close to home is Indiana," said Lee Reinhart, an organizer of the meeting who was discharged from Coast Guard after coming out.
Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., has not said if he would vote for the repeal. Reinhart asked audience members to contact friends and family in Indiana and encourage them to call Bayh about DADT.
Weeks worried that many Americans don't know what needs to be done to overturn DADT. "I think that what's happened is that the people are confused," he said.
Weeks stressed that the LGBT community needs to be informed about the state of DADT right now. If the bill is not on Obama's desk by November elections or the president vetoes it, it might not happen for years. Its passage largely depends on a Democratic majority in the Senate.
"If we can't get 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' through, we can forget about ENDA [ for now ] ," Weeks told Windy City Times. Weeks and Reinhart agreed that overturning DADT should be the easiest of key gay rights battles, and that if it did not happen this year, other initiatives like ENDA and same-sex marriage looked bleak.
The DADT repeal is tacked onto the 2011 defense budget, which legislators tend to approve quickly because they feel pressure to support national security initiatives. The budget passed in the House and Senate Armed Services committee in May. A Senate vote could come any day.
Unlike other bills that have bounced between the House and Senate ( such as healthcare ) , the language in the DADT amendment is the same in both chambers, making it less likely to get stalled or revised. Still, President Barack Obama has said that he would veto the defense budget if spending conflicts arose. If Obama does sign off on the budget, the DADT repeal will not happen until after a Pentagon work study is completed on the policy Dec 1. Even then, it will have to be approved by top security officials and sit for an additional 60 days.
Reinhart urged patience from the audience. "Now is not the time to come out," he said. "Hang in tight. Our time is coming."
The second town hall meeting will be held Tuesday, Aug. 31, at the Normal Public Library in Bloomington-Normal, Ill.
