Earlier this week, Senator John Kerry joined a group of 40 Senators to co-sponsor a new bill to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Travis Hengen, a veteran working with us toward the repeal of DADT who was discharged under the law, thanked Senator Kerry personally at an event celebrating the Senator’s 45 years of public service. Senator Kerry, who served two tours of duty in Vietnam before being elected to represent Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate, was one of the few Senators to stood against the flawed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law in 1993.
Hengen, who was discharged from the Army in 2003 for being gay after 12 years as a counterintelligence agent, said last night:
“It was great to be able to thank Senator Kerry for co-sponsoring the bill that will repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ It makes me proud to be represented by someone with such a distinguished military background and who values the service of all the men and women in uniform. With timing running out in the post election session of Congress, I also hope that Senator Scott Brown follows through on his commitment to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell this year.”
You can read more about the work of our team in Massachusetts here.
I hope that you will join us on Thursday in Boston as gay and straight veterans call on Senator Scott Brown to make repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” his top priority this year. At 11am on Thursday, December 16 veterans will deliver petitions to Senator Brown’s office in Boston at the JFK Federal Building (right next to City Hall Plaza).
