On Thursday, Republicans in the Senate stood in the way of progress, blocking legislation to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
No surprise there -- they've been turning a blind eye to the majority of Americans, legions of grassroots Democrats, and fellow lawmakers who've supported repeal for some time now.
But now, they're also ignoring top military leaders -- from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen to former Secretary of State Colin Powell -- who support overturning this policy. They're ignoring the 70 percent of American servicemen and women who say that repeal wouldn't negatively affect morale, and the Pentagon study that says it won't affect troop readiness.
They're no longer simply holding up progress that would advance the American values of fairness and equality, enrich our military, and strengthen our national security -- they seem to be willing to tune out just about anyone, all in the name of a political tally mark.
But we're not done fighting.
We need just three votes to move forward on repeal -- and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and our allies in the Senate have promised that the Senate will vote on repeal again before the year is out.
Your voice could be the difference right now: Write the Senate Republicans who are currently blocking repeal and tell them to stop playing politics with people's lives.
We couldn't have gotten to this point without your support.
Thousands of you added your names in support of the President's call for repeal. Those petitions -- 582,000 in total -- were delivered by volunteers to Senator Susan Collins's office on Thursday morning.
Now, your voice could make sure this discriminatory policy is overturned before Congress adjourns -- and that it doesn't have to wait another year, or for another Congress to take it up.
And by reaching out to senators standing in the way, you will make this issue harder and harder for them to tune out.
Three more votes is all we need. The letter you send today could be the final push that gets us there.
Write Republican senators standing in the way of progress today -- and let's make sure we repeal this thing before the year is out:
http://my.democrats.org/DADTRepealLetters
Thanks,
Jen
Jen O'Malley Dillon
Executive Director
Democratic National Committee
