arguments against this, sort of societal norms are similar to gays serving openly in the military and in fact we saw with that the transition has been relatively uneventful and many of our allies already have gays serving openly in the military. have for a long time. and also have women serving on the front lines in combat already. and there s been no deterioration in unit cohesiveness. there s no deterioration in effectiveness. so, lacking any evidence that this would create a problem, i don t see any reason we wouldn t as you were saying, toure, codify and acknowledge the reality that s happening on the ground. it s already happening. there is a time when societal norms that blacks and whites should live separately. harry truman said in the military that ought not to be the case. i don t think that hurt.
i was wondering if you re planning to bring back up the issue of don t ask, don t tell and it s possible repeal? i would move swiftly to repeal don t ask, don t tell. it s discrimination, plain and simple. i ve met with and spoken with veterans who served our nation for decades, several with top secret clearances but who could do so only at the expense of dying who they were and the relationships they wanted to have. in my view, we should be making progress in this country towards recognizes the full range of human expense and repealing that to me is an important next step in the civil rights movement. a federal judge ruled we have to overturn it. first of all, judges should not be legislating from the bench. second of all, it s up to the military to set the policy that the military believes is in the best interest of unit cohesiveness and military readiness. the military already regulates
it is an important part of our nation and its freedoms. i personally am opposed to abortion but i don t think it s my place to put that view on women. i think abortion should be safe, legal and rare. let s get into some of these issues and we go back to this. on the issue of gays serving openly in the united states military, almost all the nato allies allow gays to serve openly in the military. israel, which has a fine military as you know, allows gays to serve openly in the military. why specifically do you believe gays should not be allowed to serve openly in our military? because it s a military policy our military set forth. it s the same thing i said in my remarks about adultery not being allowed in the military. it s a military policy that they regulate because they believe that is in the best interest of unit cohesiveness and our effective military. so if the chairman of the joint chief of staffs says he believes gays should be allowed to serve in the military, would
unit cohesiveness and our effective military. so if the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff says he believes gays should be allowed to serve in the military, would that be good enough for you? if all four heads if the heads of all four branches of the military said that it would be up to them not me as a u.s. north to impose my social agenda whether for or against it. what about that? what if the chairman said we ll do whatever the commander in chief tells us to do but we don t think it s a good idea because of thee issues that miss o donnell raises, unit cohesion and those other issues? what would you say then? one of my real heroes is harry truman. ari truman made a very difficult decision to compel the racial integration of the united states armed forces at a point when most of the leadership, most of the generals said for exactly the same sorts of reason, unit cohesion we should not have a
planning to bring back up the issue of don t ask, don t tell and its possible repeal. mr. cones? i would move swiftly as a senator to repeal don t ask, don t tell. i think it s discrimination plain and simple. i ve met with and spoken to veterans who served for decades but who could do so only at the expense of denying who they were and the relationships they wanted to have. in my view we should be making progress in this country towards recognizing the full range of human experience and repealing it is important. a federal judge ruled that we had to overturn don t ask, don t tell. there are a couple of things we teed to say. first of all judges should not be legislating from the bench. second of all it s up to the military to set the policy that the military believes is in the best interest of unit cohesiveness and military readiness. the military already regulates personal behavior in that it doesn t allow affairs to go on