2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: This message was self-deleted by its author [View all]Amimnoch
(4,558 posts)DADT was a WONDERFUL thing when it happened. I joined the US Navy in 1989 (several years before DOMA). I remember my first trip to MEPS in New Orleans to see what kind of job in the Navy I'd qualify for. I will never forget the grilling, and repeatedly being asked if I was gay? Did I fantasize about having sex with men? Have I ever had sex or sexual contact with anyone of the same sex?
Then, that first week in Orlando boot camp.. all those same grilling questions. Then some weeks into boot camp there was this thing they called "the moment of Truth" where they threatened the shit out of you before asking all of those questions again. It was horrible. Too many forget that DADT didn't start the discrimination against us, it was the first step ever taken to stop that discrimination. The US, and the military was not ready to have us serve openly. Almost overnight, I wasn't accepted with open arms, but I was no longer being hunted like an animal. I was also saved from the horrible "other than honorable" or "Bad conduct" discharge that was pretty automatic prior to DADT. After DADT, if you did come out, you could at least depart with an honorable discharge (depending on your service record) You say I should not want to vote for Clinton because of this? This is a fairly big part of why I'm voting for her.
DOMA was a different creature. It most definitely did NOT benefit us. Do you really not remember the atmosphere in the 90's? Everyone was still scared shitless of us. I remember people in power, openly in interviews blaming us for everything from AIDS to the moral decline of America. It was disgusting. There was a major push going on by the far right of the time to, not just get legislation passed, but a full Constitutional Amendment passed. When DOMA was enacted it was still fairly premature to say that the Constitutional Amendment would have passed, but it was a very fair assessment to believe that it was a very real possibility.
If DOMA was a constitutional amendment instead of a law, then today I would still not be married to my Husband as the SCOTUS would have had no authority to override the amendment. So, while a full "thank you" to the Clintons would be overstating it (IMO at least), placing too much blame on them for it isn't exactly the correct thing to do either.
On your second part, you are right about Bernie always having our backs, but Bernie's never been in the position where having our backs could have written discrimination into the constitution either. His vote on DOMA was safe, it was going to pass with or without him.