In Iowa, Clinton Calls for Repeal

Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) arrived in Iowa over the weekend in one of the first stops in her campaign for the presidency, and she wasted no time in calling for an end to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

"Talking to the Democratic committee members," USA Today reports, "she said she has favored repeal of one Clinton era policy — the don't ask, don't tell policy applying to gay people in the military."

Repealing the ban on open service has become a topic Senator Clinton talks about frequently . . . and passionately. She first denounced the law in 1999, while still First Lady, and has repeated her calls for repeal over the last seven years. In a recent meeting with LGBT activists in New York, Clinton "spoke passionately against what she said was the injustice, waste, and stupidity of the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy that has led to 10,000 discharges in the past 13 years, including some involving personnel with specialized skills such as language translation," according to Gay City News.

As the campaign for 2008 continues, we hope other presidential contenders will continue to weigh in on the issue, too. With our country losing two service members every day because of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," repeal should be an item on every candidate's agenda.

- Steve Ralls

UPDATE: The Chicago Sun-Times blog also covers Clinton's remarks, noting the Senator said the law "does not make sense," and that service members should be judged by their "actions and behavior, not status."