WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrats are convening the first congressional hearing on the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy since its enactment 15 years ago. But they acknowledge there's no chance of repealing it this year.
Indeed their only hope of success, they say, is if Democratic Sen. Barack Obama gets elected president.
"We need a new president in order to get this passed" - specifically, a President Obama, Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., told reporters on a conference call Tuesday convened by the Human Rights Campaign and the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.
Obama wants to repeal "don't ask, don't tell" and will work with military leaders to get it done, his campaign Web site says. Republican opponent John McCain supports "don't ask, don't tell."
Tauscher's legislation to overturn the policy has 133 co-sponsors. But key Democrats including House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo., support the status quo, and there are no plans to bring the bill to a vote this year.
Tauscher said she has no interest in a "show vote" that her side might lose.
Instead, the hearing Wednesday in the Armed Services Committee's military personnel panel is meant to draw attention to the issue and to the growing public sentiment in favor of gay people serving openly in the military, Tauscher said.
In a Washington Post-ABC News poll over the weekend, 75 percent of respondents said openly gay people should be allowed to serve, up from 62 percent in early 2001 and 44 percent in 1993.
"We believe that this is a good first step to have this hearing, but we don't believe that this bill will come forward until we have a new president," Tauscher said.
Even if Obama wins, overturning "don't ask, don't tell" might not be his first order of business.
The policy was enacted shortly after Democrat Bill Clinton became president and sought to make good on a campaign pledge to open the military to gays. After a divisive debate that gave fuel to social conservatives and little political benefit to Clinton, "don't ask, don't tell" was the result.
It was intended to keep the military from asking recruits their sexual orientation, and to prevent servicemembers from declaring that they are gay or bisexual or engaging in homosexual activity.
If elected, Obama's key task would have to be trying to end the Iraq war while maintaining military and public support. Despite the seemingly strong promise on his campaign site, in a recent interview with The Advocate, a gay newsmagazine, Obama stopped short of promising to lead the way for change, saying only that he can "reasonably see" a repeal of the current ban if elected president.
Wednesday's hearing, convened by subcommittee chair Rep. Susan Davis, D-Calif., includes three former military officials who want to overturn "don't ask, don't tell," and two witnesses who oppose gays serving in the military.
No current Pentagon official or military officer was invited to testify, Tauscher said, because "it's a waste of time ... They always have the same answer," which is that they'll follow the law, she said.
