GOP blocks bill to lift military gay ban

September 22, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked an effort by Democrats and the White House to lift the ban on gays from serving openly in the military, voting unanimously against advancing a major defense policy bill that included the provision.

The mostly partisan vote dealt a major blow to gay-rights groups who saw the legislation as their best hope, at least in the short term, for repeal of the 17-year-old law known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

If Democrats lose seats in the upcoming congressional elections this fall, as many expect, repealing the ban could prove even more difficult — if not impossible — next year.

The Senate could take up the measure again during a lame-duck session after the elections, but a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he hasn’t decided whether to do so.

“The whole thing is a political train-wreck,” said Richard Socarides, a White House adviser on gay rights during the Clinton administration.

Democrats included the repeal provision in a $726 billion defense policy bill, which authorizes a pay raise for the troops, among other popular programs.

In a deal brokered with the White House, the measure would have overturned the 1993 law banning openly gay service only after a Pentagon review and certification from the president that lifting the ban wouldn’t hurt troop morale.

But with little time left for debate before the November ballot, the bill had languished on the Senate calendar until gay-rights groups, backed by pop star Lady Gaga, began an aggressive push to turn it into an election issue.

Earlier this month, a federal judge in Los Angeles declared the ban an unconstitutional violation of the due process and free-speech rights of gays and lesbians. The decision was the third federal court ruling since July to assert that statutory limits on the rights of gays and lesbians were unconstitutional.

Reid, D-Neb., agreed to force a vote on the bill this week and limit debate, despite Republican objections.

Republicans alleged that Reid was using the defense bill to score political points with the Democratic base.