Brown’s betrayal, votes against DADT repeal

Posted By: The Rainbow Times December 13, 2011

December 10, 2010
By: Christine Nicco/TRT Online Reporter

According to reports from The Advocate online, the “Senate dealt a near-fatal blow” to DADT yesterday, but such blow was not just a grave upset, but a grand falsehood, especially when it comes to MA Senator Scott Brown.  Even when 6 days prior Brown openly vowed to support it, as expected by those who really knew what he stands for, he seemingly did not. And, with his apparent lack of support for DADT, may also go his seat. MA voters have shown signs, time-after- time that they take civil rights seriously. And Brown’s vote, in a state where same-sex marriage is legal, may be the actual fatal blow.

“It is outrageous that Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown failed to vote in favor of ending debate so that the U.S. Senate could take up repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’” said Kara Suffredini, MassEquality Executive Director in a recent statement. “There is nothing courageous about his saying he would vote to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ as he did last week, only to hide behind a procedural maneuver so that he would never have to take that vote. And although he likes to call himself an independent Republican, there is nothing independent about voting in lockstep with a political party intent on blocking LGBT equality at every turn. Today, Scott Brown thumbed his nose at the supermajority of Americans, Massachusetts citizens, and servicemembers who support the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and placed himself not only on the wrong side of the Massachusetts electorate, but on the wrong side of history.

The Senate’s vote, 57-40, failed to advance the bill to which the measure was attached, the National Defense Authorization Act.

“With today’s vote, Brown has ensured that our national security will remain compromised as discharges of talented and critically trained servicemembers will continue” Suffredini added. “To date, more than 14,000 servicemembers have been discharged under ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ including more than 60 Arabic linguists, and nearly 800 other service members in critical occupational fields.”

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