The U.S. Senate today passed a stand-alone bill to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the so-called compromise bill signed into law by President Bill Clinton (D) in 1993, and for which Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) voted.

Today, our senior Senator did the right thing (after too long a delay) and voted for S.R. 4023 (with the same language as H.R. 6250, meaning no conference committee is required). From his email release:

The Senate today approved the repeal bill in a vote of 65 to 31.  The final victory came only hours after the Senate invoked cloture on the bill, ending months of delays and filibusters.  The bill has already passed the House and now goes to President Obama’s desk for signing. 

 

I am so proud that the Senate rose to the occasion in this historic vote.  It is a galvanizing victory for individual civil rights in our country, grounded in enduring American values.  Removing a discriminatory barrier for some Americans underscores the rights of all Americans.

Sen. Bernie Sanders of course voted for repeal.

According to several sources, six Republicans initially crossed the aisle to vote for cloture (an indication of the strength of support a bill has): Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), Scott Brown (R-Mass.), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and George Voinovich (R-Ohio). Burr (R-NC) and Ensign (R-Nev) joined in voting for repeal.

Yeah, one wonders what drove some of them, but that’s okay, I’ll take it.

Regardless of what you may think about wars and armies, there will likely be people who want to join the military for any or all of the usual reasons. Some of them are gay or lesbian or bisexual (the repeal does not affect current regulations on transgender folks). They should be able to serve without facing daily harassment or discrimination based on who is waiting for them back home.

We’ve still got a ways to go, folks – both on actually implementing repeal (the military is still slow-walking this one) and in getting the other equality obstacle removed – national marriage equality and equal rights and benefits in federal law and regulation.

Lt. Dan Choi is recuperating from the stress of his activism on DADT. He famously came onstage during a Harry Reid meeting and gave Reid his West Point ring to keep for him until DADT was repealed. Looks like he’ll be getting it back.