In a historic vote last night, the House passed an amendment to repeal the military’s discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Earlier this week, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), the House’s third-ranking Republican, had “promised unified GOP opposition to lifting the ban” on gays serving openly in the military. “The American people don’t want the American military to be used to advance a liberal political agenda. And House Republicans will stand on that principle,” Pence said. But dismissing Pence’s leadership, five Republicans joined 229 Democrats to vote for the repeal:
The vote was 234 to 194.
Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Ron Paul (R-TX), Joseph Cao (R-LA), Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL), and Charles Djou (R-HI) were the only Republicans to vote in favor of scrapping the law.
Not surprisingly, the right-wing has already begun attacking this group of five congressmen for voting their conscious and breaking party lines. “Five Republicans voted to join the radical gay lobby in pushing passage of Nancy Pelosi’s remaining priority item before the elections,” Human Events’ Connie Hair wrote this morning. Without directly naming the Republicans, Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) said voting for the bill showed “disrespect for military personnel by attempting to force through repeal.”