Franken, Klobuchar, Madia press for DADT repeal

Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar pushed for a repeal of the military’s ban on openly serving gays and lesbians on Thursday and urged the U.S. Senate to pass a defense authorization bill that contains a repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. At the same time, former congressional candidate and military veteran Ashwin Madia is using his new position as head of VoteVets to get a ban passed during the lame duck session.

Madia ran for Congress in 2008 in Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District. “I’ve seen — first-hand — how keeping this policy in place hurts the military,” Madia said in an email to supporters.

Madia, who made repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell an issue in his 2008 campaign against Rep. Erik Paulsen, has brought the issue to the forefront in his new role as interim chairman of VoteVets. The previous chair, Jon Soltz, is taking a leave to deploy to Iraq, as part of Operation New Dawn.

Franken and Klobuchar held a press conference with 9 of their Democratic Senate colleagues and independent Sen. Joe Lieberman urging the rest to pass a repeal.

“I urge all of my colleagues to stand for equality and common sense, and to stand up for our troops,” said Franken. “The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy has been too costly for too many people. Repealing the provision is simply the right thing to do and it’s a change the country is ready for.”

Klobuchar called for Senators to have the courage to pass a repeal, according to MinnPost:

Klobuchar said President Obama and top military brass like Mullen have shown courage in calling for repeal, and that the troops on the ground showed courage in widely backing repeal as well. Now, she said, it just remains to be seen “whether the people in the U.S. Senate will have the same courage.”