PA Dem wants change in "Don't Ask Don't Tell"

President Obama has signaled he wants to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and a Philadelphia-area Democrat has taken the lead in repealing the ban in Congress.

Since 1993, advocates say the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy has kicked 13-thousand men and women out of the U.S. military after their homosexuality became known. But President Obama has signaled he wants to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and a Philadelphia-area Democrat has taken the lead in repealing the ban in Congress.

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Now that Congressman Patrick Murphy has become the lead sponsor of a bill to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, analysts say the policy has a better chance of being reversed.

Steven Medvic is an American politics professor at Franklin & Marshall College.

Medvic: I think having Patrick Murphy as the lead on this bill helps the odds of this bill passing tremendously. He’s a veteran of the Iraq war, he’s a former Army captain, and he’s making an argument that sounds very sensible to moderates and even some conservatives.”

Murphy argues that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell wastes taxpayer money AND jeopardizes national security by discharging highly trained personnel.

Supporters of the policy say Murphy’s service notwithstanding, his involvement does not change the argument against allowing gays to serve openly.