“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Rally & ‘March on Myrick’ campaign kick-off
We support our troops. DADT does NOT. REPEAL NOW.
Get the details | March on Myrick | Get the facts | RSVP
Friday, Feb. 26, 2010
Press Conference at 4:30 p.m.
Rally immediately following until 6:00 p.m.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Building, 600 E. 4th St. (3rd & Davidson Sts.), Charlotte, NC
Join CRANE and the Human Rights Campaign for a rally supporting repeal of the anti-gay “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and the kick-off of CRANE’s March on Myrick campaign.
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” — the law which bans open service by lesbian, gay and bisexual servicemembers in the U.S. Armed Forces — isn’t working for us, our men and women in uniform or our nation. Our LGBTQI brothers and sisters are already serving so let them serve openly! Join us at our rally to send a message to our representatives that Charlotte is against the discriminatory policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The only way to fix it is to repeal NOW.
Please bring signs and remember that we support all members of our military.
If a person is willing to lay down his or her life for the freedoms of others, then s/he should have the freedom to serve openly.
RSVP and let us know you’ll be there: Head over to our Facebook event page and RSVP…
The details…
Join CRANE and the Human Rights Campaign for a press conference with local CRANE organizers Lacey Williams and Randy Floyd, HRC Carolinas political co-chair; Charlotte Army veteran Michael Noftzger and Marine veteran Eric Alva.
About Eric Alva
Marine Staff Sgt. Eric Alva was the first American wounded in the war in Iraq. On March 21, 2003, he was traveling in Iraq in a convoy to Basra with his battalion when he stepped on a landmine, breaking his right arm and damaging his leg so badly that it needed to be amputated. Alva was awarded a Purple Heart and received a medical discharge from the military.
Now, Alva has come out, and he’s working with the Human Rights Campaign to speak out against the military “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy banning gay, lesbian and bisexual Americans from serving in the armed forces. When Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated recently that he supports the Pentagon’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” ban on gays serving in the military because homosexual acts “are immoral,” and compared it to an adulterous affair with the spouse of another service member, Alva spoke out against Pace.
On Feb. 28, 2007, Alva joined Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass., in calling for an end to the destructive “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. View photos of their meeting. Watch a video of Alva speaking on Capitol Hill or read the transcript.
March on Myrick
On Friday, Feb. 26, CRANE will kick-off its March on Myrick campaign. Throughout the month of March, CRANE organizers and grassroots activists will engage local community members on the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The campaign culminates in April, when CRANE will ask Rep. Sue Myrick (NC-6) to support the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, a bill to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” currently under debate in the U.S. House. Join us at our Feb. 26 press conference and rally to learn more about this exciting, grassroots campaign, and stay tuned to rainbowaction.org for more details!
The Facts: Why DADT should be repealed…
Servicemembers’ attitudes are changing
- 73 percent of military personnel are comfortable with lesbians and gays (Zogby International, 2006).
- The younger generations, those who fight America’s 21st century wars, largely don’t care about whether someone is gay or not — and they do not link job performance with sexual orientation.
- One in four U.S. troops who served in Afghanistan or Iraq knows a member of their unit who is gay (Zogby, 2006).
The American public supports repeal
- Majorities of weekly churchgoers (60 percent), conservatives (58 percent), and Republicans (58 percent) now favor repeal (Gallup, 2009).
- Seventy-five percent of Americans support gays serving openly - up from just 44 percent in 1993 (ABC News/Washington Post, 2008).
The gay ban hurts military readiness
- The U.S. must recruit and retain the greatest number of the best and brightest—especially during two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- The military has discharged almost 800 mission-critical troops and at least 59 Arabic and nine Farsi linguists under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in the last five years.
Government research supports open service
- In 1993 RAND Corp. concluded that openly gay people in the U.S. military do not negatively impact unit cohesion or military readiness.
- A 2009 groundbreaking, pro-repeal essay by Col. Om Prakash published in an official Pentagon journal agreed with this assessment. He wrote, “it is time for the administration to examine how to implement the repeal of the ban.”
- Several other military-commissioned and GAO studies have concluded that open service does not undermine military readiness, troop morale, or national security.
American allies support open service
- Twenty-four other countries, including Australia, Israel, Great Britain and Canada have shown open service to have no adverse effect on enrollment or retention.
DADT discharges have fallen since 2001
- Since 2001, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” discharges have declined by almost half. During every major military conflict the number of discharges has dropped.
LGBT patriots are serving with honor and distinction now
- Today, there are at least 65,000 gay Americans serving on active duty and one million gay veterans in the United States, according to the Urban Institute.
Federal government agencies do not discriminate
- The CIA, FBI, State Department, the Defense Department on the civilian side, and defense contractors do not discriminate based on sexual orientation.
Fact sheet provided courtesy Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.
