'Don't ask, don't tell' splitting gay rights groups

Updated 4:05 p.m. ET
Disagreements over how Congress should proceed on ending the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy are dividing gay rights groups as lawmakers are trying to determine how to proceed on the issue. The schism could rip apart a year-long effort to end the Pentagon's ban on gay men and lesbians openly serving in uniform.

The White House and Congress in May agreed to consider ending "don't ask, don't tell" as part of the annual defense authorization bill, a massive measure that addresses Pentagon funding for tanks, aircraft, weapons system and military pay. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) planned to speak Monday with the panel's ranking member, John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on how to proceed with the bill, but were not expected to finalize their plans, aides said.

On Monday, three groups that support lifting the gay ban -- the Palm Center at the University of California Santa Barbara, OutServe andKnights Out -- said they want lawmakers to pass the bill whether or not it includes language ending "don't ask, don't tell."

"There is nothing more important than loyalty to those with whom we serve," the groups said in their statement. "This means ensuring that no one issue interferes with funding the courageous and selfless work our fellow service members are doing around the world."

"We will continue to fight for our integrity as gay and lesbian service members and we hope that legislative action in Congress can be taken in 2010 to lift the ban," the groups said.

The Palm Center is a think tank that has studied homosexual military service around the world and supports lifting the ban. OutServe represents about 1,000 active-duty gay service members and Knights Out represents gay and lesbian West Point alumni, staff and faculty.

Their statement comes a day after McCain once again voiced skepticism with repeal efforts and said he wants the Pentagon to conduct a new study on what troops and military leaders think of ending the policy.

McCain "has no rationale left, just prejudice," said Palm Center Deputy Director Christopher Neff. "The only rationale left is he's being anti-gay and has chosen to take an anti-gay position to scuttle the defense authorization bill." The groups spoke out in support of passing the authorization bill to demonstrate that unlike McCain, they're willing to put aside personal political priorities in the interest of addressing national security concerns in the bill, he said.

It's a risky political calculation that puts them in direct conflict with four larger groups more directly involved with lobbying efforts to end the ban: the Human Rights Campaign, the Center for American Progress,Servicemembers United and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

Servicemembers United Executive Director Alexander Nicholsoncalled the other groups' statement "absolute lunacy."

"It has been the position of the organizations that actually work on repealing 'don't ask, don't tell' to strongly oppose stripping the repeal language out of the defense authorization bill," Nicholson said in an e-mail. "That position has been based on the reality of the vote count, and those facts on the ground here in Washington have not changed."

Fred Sainz, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, said the other groups are "Good people who are extremely naïve legislatively." HRC -- which is close with the Obama White House -- continues to believe that the defense bill must be passed this year with language ending DADT. "The two should not be separated," Sainz said.

In a related development, police on Monday arrested 13 gay rights activists and military veterans for chaining themselves to a White House fence along Pennsylvania Avenue. The activists, working with the gay rights group GetEQUAL, called on President Obama and Senate leaders to ensure "don't ask, don't tell" is ended this year.

And all of this is happening just as lawmakers are sorting out whether they have enough votes to proceed on the defense bill. Those in the know have said very little publicly in recent days, leading many to believe the bill -- and repeal -- may not happen at all this year. Stay tuned.

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By Ed O'Keefe Washingtonpost.com