Udall urges legislative route to DADT repeal

Colorado’s U.S. Sen. Mark Udall urged members of the Senate to pass– or at very least to agree to debate– the nation’s Defense Authorization bill, which includes an amendment that would repeal the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell rule barring gays from serving openly in the military. Udall, a champion of DADT repeal, is so far not endorsing the so-called Truman option, where Pres. Obama would issue an executive order repealing the controversial policy the way Pres. Harry Truman in 1948 by executive order repealed rules racially segregating the military after a similarly drawn-out legislative battle.

Udall working to head off GOP filibuster on DADT repeal

The U.S. Senate today is scheduled to make a key procedural vote on the defense authorization bill, legislation that primarily releases resources for the military and that has been passed 48 years in a row. This year is different. Republicans…

Gay rights group One Colorado endorses Hickenlooper in guv race

In its first election season campaign endorsement, One Colorado has come out solidly for Democrat John Hickenlooper in the three-way governor’s race.

“As mayor of Denver, Hickenlooper has created an environment that emphasizes equality and fairness,” said One…

Colo. primary weekend preview: Fuming McCain rails against DADT repeal

Arizona Senator John McCain is coming to Colorado this weekend to campaign for GOP U.S. Senate candidate Jane Norton, who was a leading member of his presidential campaign team here in 2008. McCain lost the Colorado primary in a…

Military chiefs oppose ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ compromise

In a setback for Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.) and Senate Armed Services Committee supporters like Colorado’s Mark Udall, efforts to insert amendments overturning the military’s ban on open gay service in this year’s defense authorization bill…

LGBT groups gear up for today’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ repeal fight

The Senate Armed Services Committee goes into room 222 of the Russell building today at 2:30 p.m. to mark up the fiscal 2011 defense authorization bill. Until members emerge at 9 p.m., it’s a black box of information for determining the contours of the half-trillion-dollar-plus piece of legislation, including the fate of Sen. Joe Lieberman’s (I-Conn.) amendment to repeal the military’s ban on open gay service, an amendment strongly supported by Colorado’s Mark Udall. The coalition of LGBT-rights organizations pushing to secure passage in the committee and then later this week on the House floor are trying as hard as they can to lock down votes by mid-afternoon before the Senators gather behind closed doors.

Udall push to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ wins nod from Obama

In the culmination of Monday’s big push among activists and key members of the Senate Armed Service Committee to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”– a group that included Colorado’s Sen. Mark Udall– White House budget director Peter Orszag wrote…

Obama nominee Kagan has embraced expanded executive authority

Solicitor General Elena Kagan will be President Obama’s second Supreme Court nominee. The emerging conventional wisdom is that Kagan, a rare nominee for the high court who hasn’t been a judge, is a very smart blank slate. On at least one category of issues that Kagan will face — the intersection of national security and law during a time of war — that conventional wisdom looks correct. But there’s a proxy for that set of issues, however inexact, that offers a few clues in advance of her confirmation hearings: Kagan’s deference to executive power.

Number of military gays fired in 2009 dips to record low 443

That statistic comes to you from Servicemembers United, which opposes “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and seeks its repeal. It’s lower than in previous years: There were 627 such discharges in 2007, for instance. From a Servicemembers United press release:…

Gen. McPeak’s reasoned and bigoted argument against gays in the military

Obama-supporter Gen. Merrill “Tony” McPeak, Air Force Chief of Staff, wrote an op-ed in the New York Times Friday saying he believed repealing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” military policy to allow gay soldiers to serve openly would weaken…