Log Cabin Republicans Respond to Tim Pawlenty’s Threat to Continue ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
Feb 8, 2011 | LGBT, National Defense
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
CONTACT: PRESS SECRETARY
(202) 420.7873 |
| (Washington, DC) – Log Cabin Republicans oppose former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty’s threats to reinstate the failed ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy and condemn his attempts to undercut the Pentagon’s repeal process. Pawlenty, who is widely presumed to harbor presidential ambitions, made his remarks while in Iowa speaking to a socially conservative audience.“Governor Pawlenty’s comments fly in the face of both overwhelming public opinion and common sense,” said R. Clarke Cooper, Log Cabin Republicans Executive Director. “Congress voted in a bipartisan majority in December to enact the clear will of the American people, which demanded that ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ be stricken from the books. The Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and leadership throughout the Pentagon along with Congressional leaders, including Senator John McCain, are now in full support of implementing open service. The debate on this matter is done, and that Governor Pawlenty continues to fight the end of this failed and unconstitutional policy demonstrates that he is willing to put personal ambition and political pandering ahead of the priorities of the American people.”
Log Cabin Republicans have maintained a three-front strategy against ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ lobbying for repeal in Congress, consulting with the Department of Defense, and filing suit in federal court. The case went to trial in July of 2010, and Judge Virginia Phillips ruled on September 9, 2010 that the policy violated the First and Fifth Amendments of the Constitution. |
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Log Cabin Republicans is the only Republican organization dedicated to representing the interests of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans and their allies. The more than 30-year old organization has state and local chapters nationwide, a full-time office in Washington, DC, a federal political action committee and state political action committees.
