CONGRESSMAN BARNEY FRANK'S STATEMENT REGARDING THE SENATE VOTE ON THE REPEAL OF "DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL"

Congressman Barney Frank today released the following statement regarding the Senate vote to end debate on the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."  The bipartisan vote of 63-33 indicates that legislation is almost certain to pass the Senate.

"The Senate vote today is one of the most important steps in the history of efforts to make our constitution fully applicable to all Americans."

"I want not just to congratulate but to thank President Obama, Secretary Gates, Admiral Mullen, Senate Majority Leader Reid, Senator Levin, Senator Lieberman, Speaker Pelosi, House Majority Leader Hoyer, and Representative Patrick Murphy for their dedicated, diligent and effective work to bring us to this point."

"I do ask that for one thing:  now that we are about to make the decision to let patriotic Americans volunteer to fight for our country, despite any prejudices that may exist against them, it is important that the media and others pay particular attention to the predictions that have been made by some that this will lead to the destabilization of our military.  Those who have continually predicted disorder when we act against discrimination have been uniformly wrong and are too rarely held to account for that."