The current law, dubbed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” calls for service members to be discharged if they disclose that they are homosexual.

(Photo credit: Jeff Sheng, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" series, www.jeffsheng.com)

Lieberman introduced the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, legislation that would lift the ban and prohibit discrimination against gay service members.

The law “is inconsistent with our most important national values and diminishes our military readiness,” Lieberman told reporters.

Leading Senate Democrats pledged to move quickly to repeal the ban on gays serving openly in the armed forces rather than wait, as the Pentagon has requested, for the military to complete a lengthy review.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) said he expects his panel to take up the measure in May as part of the annual defense authorization bill.

The Pentagon and congressional Republicans have urged Democrats to allow the military to first complete its study of the policy and the impact of a potential repeal. The study is expected to be completed by Dec. 1

Meanwhile, Lieberman and Levin have called for a moratorium on further dismissals of gays under the current law while the Pentagon conducts its review.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, strongly endorsed President Obama’s plan to end the ban, and said the current law “forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens.”

In his State of the Union address on January 27, Obama called on Congress to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. More than 13,000 members of the military have been discharged since the law was enacted in 1993.

Photo credit: Jeff Sheng.

Lieberman

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) is expected to introduce a bill next week to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” adding an independent voice to the movement to overturn the 1993 law that prohibits gay people from serving openly in the armed forces.

In a statement released this week, Lieberman said:

“I will be proud to be a sponsor of the important effort to enable patriotic gay Americans to defend our national security and our founding values of freedom and opportunity. I have opposed the current policy of preventing gay Americans from openly serving in the military since its enactment in 1993.”

In an exclusive interview with the New York Daily News, Lieberman said allowing gays to serve openly fulfills the bedrock American promise of providing citizens with “an equal opportunity to do whatever job their talents and sense of purpose and motivations lead them to want to do – including military service.”

“When you artificially limit the pool of people who can enlist then you are diminishing military effectiveness,” he added.

Lieberman disputes the claim that allowing gay people to serve openly would cause havoc within the ranks. Indeed, to argue that belittles the maturity of our soldiers.

Since implementation of the statute nearly 20 years ago, the military has discharged some 14,000 qualified men and women, many of them serving in critical jobs like Arabic and Persian translation.

The Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act would provide domestic partner benefits for federal employees and their same-sex partners, including federal health insurance, retirement and disability benefits, family, medical and emergency leave, and compensation for work injuries.

Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said he and Ranking Member Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduced the bill with the purpose of bringing a measure of equality to the federal work force.

“I believe this legislation is really on the right side of history, and it, in a sense, is another expression of a concept we believe in, which is equal pay for equal work, and in this case, equal benefits for equal work,” Lieberman said.

The bill is expected to receive a lukewarm reception in the full Senate, however, due to opposition from conservative Republicans.

In a statement from the White House, spokesperson Shin Inouye said, “The President is pleased with yesterday’s progress on the Domestic Partners Benefits and Obligations Act, and urges Congress to move swiftly to pass this crucial legislation… He hopes to see this bill come to his desk for his signature next year.”

Similar legislation, introduced in the House by openly lesbian Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) cleared the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on November 18.