DADT 11th Hour

The House has passed a final, stand-alone measure and repealed DADT. However, the Senate must still confirm the new bill.

Three Republican Senators have said they will support the measure. Unfortunately, for the last vote in which the measure was part of the defense bill, a single Democrat Senator, the new one from West Virginia, sided with the other Republicans against repealing DADT.

For DADT to end and gays and lesbians to be able to serve without fear of being ousted, one more vote apparently is needed to reach 60 votes for the measure to overcome John McCain's filibuster threat. Either the new West Virginia Senator needs to vote with his Democrat colleagues or one more Republican Senator needs to be found to join with the Democrats to ensure passage.

This will likely be the very last chance for some time to come. The more conservative Republican house members and senators are not likely to revive this issue while they are in control of the house and are closer to control in the senate.

It was a shame that the previous West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd died on June 28th of this year. Had he lived six months longer, he would likely have easily supported the repeal of DADT and we would not be in this predicament of needing one more vote in the Senate to end this enduring nightmare. Same with the late Edward Kennedy.

To be this close is agonizing for someone like me who has waited over 31 years for this to end.

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