Tauscher moves to end gay ban

Walnut Creek Democrat Ellen Tauscher will move today to end the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” ban on gays in the military, a 15-year relic of the Clinton-era culture wars.

Tauscher last summer had promised a full-scale push to end the ban this year. The Obama presidency clearly lifts the veto threat that had blocked any such move during the Bush administration. Obama promised to support repeal during his campaign. His Republican opponent Sen. John McCain remained opposed.

Polls show solid public support for lifting the ban, with as many as 75 percent backing repeal, a number that has climbed steadily during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The argument for the ban is that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would damage morale.

McCain made that argument last year, saying, “I believe the polarization of personnel and breakdown of unit effectiveness is too high a price to pay for well-intentioned but misguided efforts to elevate the interests of a minority of homosexual service members above those of their units.”

A General Accountability Office study in 2005 showed the military lost 800 service members in 161 occupations. The ban has led to the discharge of desperately needed linquists and translators during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. See