At this writing DADT or, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, has cleared the filibuster in the Senate by a wide margin of 63-33. The vote advances the Pentagon’s ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military to a floor vote where by all accounts it will pass. The result would be a repeal of the 17 year old Clinton-era policy.

This from Captain Nathan Cox, USMC:

“In the end, Marines in combat will treat sexual orientation the same way they treat race, religion and one’s stance on the likelihood of the Patriots winning another Super Bowl. I do not believe the intense desire we all feel as Marines to accomplish the mission and protect each other will be affected in the slightest by knowing the sexual orientation of the man or woman next to us…. I believe the reluctance many Marines feel about repeal is based on the false stereotype, borne out of ignorance, that homosexuals don’t do things like pull other Marines from burning vehicles. The truth is, they do it all the time. We simply don’t know it because they can’t tell us.”

Though personally I wish DADT would stand, sexuality doesn’t matter on the battlefield according to Captain Cox.

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UPDATE on Repealing DADT: DADT has been repealed by a final vote of 65-31. There were 6 (R)’s who joined the 57 (D)’s to close the deal. The (R)’s were: Brown, Collins, Kirk, Murkowski, Snowe, and Voinovich – not altogether surprising imho. Oh, and hey West Virginia… your newly elected conservative governor-turned- senator chickened out on the vote; both on this bill and on the now dead (thank God) DREAM Nightmare Act. Way to take a stand huh?

BTW, some SoD Gates has said that if DADT hadn’t been repealed here, it would have been overturned in the courts. We’ll never know. The bill is now heading to Obama for his signature, turning it into law.