What does the DADT Bill really mean? Well for those of you who don't know what DADT stands for it means "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". And it is a bill that was recently passed by the House of Representatives and signed by President Obama. But what many people don't know is that this isn't the first time the issue of LGBTs being in the military has been presented to the government. Back in 1942 LGBTs were not allowed in the military, which is when they were preparing to go into World War II. But even before that servicemembers who were gay would be court-martialed, imprisoned, and dishonorably discharged from the military if they were discovered to be gay. So when former president Bill Clinton tried to overturn the ban of gays in the military members of Congress and the public said no, so DADT was presented as a compromise policy. Something else people don't know is that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" wasn't the original name of the bill. It was Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue." The "Don’t Ask" provision mandates that military or appointed officials will not ask about or require members to reveal their sexual orientation. The "Don’t Tell" states that a member may be discharged for claiming to be a homosexual or bisexual or making a statement indicating a tendency towards or intent to engage in homosexual activities. The "Don’t Pursue" establishes what is minimally required for an investigation to be initiated. A "Don’t Harass" provision was added to the policy later. It ensures that the military will not allow harassment or violence against service members for any reason.
And now that we have a new president the ban has been lifted. And President Obama already said back in 2009 that he wanted to stop this bill because he felt that if someone wanted to serve our country in the military, they shouldn't be discriminated against.
(This video is of President Obama back in January talking about how he wanted to end the don't ask, don't tell policy.)
Now, finally, the president and many others are getting their wish, because the repeal has passed.
( This video is of the Senate passing the Don't Ask, Don't Tell repeal.)
And the president has even said he will do everything in his power to try and get this bill implemented has soon as possible soon that troops can serve as being openly gay. And that they will not be treated any different from anyone else in the military.
( President Obama is giving a speech about how troops can serve openly gay now and how he would like to have this bill in effect as soon as possible.)
(President Obama signing DADT repeal.)
How this story relates to class: This story relates to class because at the beginning of the year we talked about how people have civil rights and how they should not be discriminated against. And because the DADT bill has now been repealed people can now serve our country without being discriminated against because of who they are. Like when blacks couldn't go to certain places because of their color, they were then being discriminated against because of who they were. So in away these to things are kind of the same.
(This is a video of the Senate passing the 9/11 Health Bill.)
On Wednesday, December 22, 2010 the Senate passed the 9/11 Health Bill after a last minute decision that was negotiated by Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), because Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) kept on putting a block up for the passing of this bill because he felt the cost of the measure was to high. The original cost of the bill was $7.4 billion for eight years, but after the negotiation the bill provides $4.3 billion over five years to cover the cost of medical care for rescue workers and others who became sick from breathing in toxic fumes, dust, and smoke after the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. And now that the cost of the bill has changed, Sen. Tom Coburn is satisfied and he expressed it by saying, “Every American recognizes the heroism of the 9/11 first responders,” he said. “But it is not compassionate to help one group while robbing future generations of opportunity.” The new version of the bill provides $1.8 billion over the next five years to monitor and treat injuries stemming from exposure to toxic dust and debris at ground zero. And then legislators will set aside $2.5 billion to reopen the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund for five years to provide payment for job and economic losses. And 10% of the cost for this bill be paid by New York.
But this isn't the first time the 9/11 Health Bill has come up in the House of Representatives. Back in July of this year the House had to vote on weather they should pass this bill and because the Republicans have majority the bill did not get the 2/3 votes for it to be passed. So Representative of New York, Anthony Weiner (D-NY), had "a little episode" where he told the Republicans how he felt about them not passing the bill, "It's Republicans wrapping their arms around Republicans, rather than doing the right thing on behalf of the heroes! It is a shame, a shame!".
( This a video of the Democrat representative of New York, Anthony Weiner, defending the 9/11 Health Bill against GOP, (which is the Republican Party) attacks.) (Picture of Anthony Weiner responding to attacks on 9/11 Health Bill.)
And now that the bill has passed finally many people are happy, including our president, who thinks the health bill is a great idea and he was very happy to sign it. (President Obama speaking about his views on the 9/11 Health Bill.)
How this relates to class: This story relates to AP class because at the beginning of the year we were talking about how a bill gets passed and how it takes two-thirds of the House of Representatives to pass a bill. And we also talked about how Republicans are conservatitives, which means their thoughts on how the government should be ran are more old fashioned than those of the Democrats who are more liberal.
