House Proceeding 10-06-09 on Oct 6th, 2009 :: 2:48:55 to 3:08:55
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2:45:55 to 2:48:55( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Patrick Murphy

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Patrick Murphy: highest ranking enlisted soldier ever to serve in the united states congress. he was a command sergeant major. that is the highest rank you can become in the united states army in the enlisted ranks.

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he's a sophomore congressman

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from minnesota, his name is ted walsh. he's an american patriot and a hero and i'd like to turn it over to my colleague and my friend, tim walz from the great state of minnesota. mr. walz: thank you, mr. speaker. thank you to my colleague from pennsylvania. thank you for your service in the military, thank you for your leadership in this congress, and especially thank

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you for standing forward on to -- on this important issue. the colleagues who have joined us here tonight understand this issue is one of civil liberties, of basic human dignity and of national security. as my colleague said, i d the privilege and the honor to serve this nation for 24 years in uniform. i can tell you there is no greater privilege than putting on the uniform of the united states army and trying to do

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the best you can to make sure that our personal liberties and our security of this nation are maintained. the idea of denying that privilege and that honor to any american is simply unfathomable to me. it makes no sense. and i can tell you approaching this from a perspective, i'm a school teacher by profession. i had students that i taught in the classroom, coached on the football field, trained in my

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guard unit and they went off to iraq to fight for this nation. they went off to afghanistan to fight for this nation. not once, not once in my career did the question of sexual orientation ever come up. not once was the ability of that unit to deliver the security and deliver their mission ever predicated on sexual orientation.

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not once did i see that this nation was safer because a soldier was removed because of sexual orientation. and this issue, and the position i was in as a senior enlisted soldier, my whole purpose in life was to make sure our troops were trained, make sure they were prepared to do the mission and make sure their well-being was taken care of. making sure they could pass

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their physical proficiency test. making sure they could fire their weapon to the best of their ability. making sure they understood the mission and they understood tactics to carry out the mission that was assned to them to protect this nation. the professionalism of our troops is beyond question. the professionalism to be able to carry out a mission as assigned to them and to fall

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back upon their training has led us to have the most successful and profession military in the world -- proficient military in the world. the idea that these soldiers would be degraded -- degraded because someone doing the exact same thing beside them because of sexua only a fallacy, it is degrading to the professionalism of the soldiers there.

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we serve today right alongside in afghanistan 12 nations that allow their military to serve as openly gay and lesbian soldiers. not one incident in that conflict has arisen because of that. and as my colleague from pennsylvania so clearly pointed out, as this generation of young people willingly raise their hands at a time of two

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wars to serve this nation, we're alternativing out -- turning out some of the most skilled warriors and turning them out of the military for a bias on sexual orientation that has no place, has no need and is not undermining our security. my colleagues are here tonight -- my colleagues who are here tonight are going to make and

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have already made a very eloquent case for this. the united states public has a very strong preference that we allow people to serve in the military, we allow them to do their duty, we make sure our arabling wifts are there and we've sent many of them out the door because of this policy. it doesn't reflect the values of this nation. it doesn't reflect what we know in the military is a essential

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of trust amongst comrades -- is seans of trust among comrades and there is -- sense of trust among comrades and there is a quote, a speech given by the marine corps' first rabbi and he was chosen and asked to give the eulogy over the dead at the battle of iwo jima. there was a strong bias about

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having a rabbi give last rights over christian soldiers. the decision was made to have three different services. but during the rabbi's remarks, he was very clear about this. enlisted man and offer laid dead together. black and white. rich and poor. sons of immigrants and fourt generation americans -- fourth

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generation americans. not one of those people asked the other why they were there. his point was, theirs was the purest democracy, arm in arm, brothers and sisters in arms, fighting for this nation, and for any of us to discriminate against another because of any perceived bias was to disregard and disrespect the valor and

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the memory of those who have served. so i want to thank my colleague from pennsylvania, captain murphy, an airborne soldier, served honorably in iraq, served this nation well, came to congress to do the same thing, and has courageously stood up time and time again for what's right, what's for the best security of this country and what keeps in the

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best traditions of civil liberties in this country. so i stand with my captain side by side on this. i can assure the american public the professionalism of our force and the unwavering commitment to this country of the military is absolutely in secure hands and to give other americans the ability to serve and be a part of that is something that this congress

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Patrick Murphy: must do. so, captain murphy, i congratulate you, i thank you for doing this, i'm proud to stand with you. you have over 170 of our colleagues with you on this. it's time to move this forward. it's time to erase this mistake for our security and for americans and i'll be with you every step of the way. so thank you for that and with

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Speech By: Patrick Murphy

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Patrick Murphy: that i yield back to the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. murphy: i thank the gentleman from minnesota. there's two points that he mentioned -- mentioned that i'd like to highlight. one is the fact that there are 27 other nations that allow their troops to serve openly. some of our truffest allies, -- toughest allies, great britain, israel, the aussies, they all

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Patrick Murphy: allow their troops to serve openly with no detrimental affects. and secondly, the command sergeant major there mentioned ewoe jimafment i spoke to -- iwo jima. i spoke got an email from one of the colonels i met with. he said, and i quote, gay men

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Patrick Murphy: and women have been serving honorably in our military for decades. he sent me a moving passage from a book about world war ii, reflecting on his experiences, a marine wrote, that lesson of tolerance was well lerved by the men in our company -- learned by the men in our company.

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Patrick Murphy: during free campaigns in which we took part, valor and unselfishness were commonplace. i saw bravery and sacrifice all around me. one of the most courageous men i met was our navy corpsesman, a teenage boy who always put our well-being ahead of his own.

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Patrick Murphy: in combat he cared for us, he bandaged our wounds and comforted our men as they died. often he would leave his position of relative safetynd move out into the hail of enemy gunfire to treat a downed

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Patrick Murphy: marine or pull a man t safety. lifetime and time again to take care of his fellow men. on his last rescue attempt he was badly wounded when a japanese machine gun put a round through his thigh and another round in his chest. billy's wounds were life-threatening. and he was quickly transported

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Patrick Murphy: out to a hospital ship for treatment. but billy didn't make it. billy was posthumously awarded to navy cross, our nation's second highest honor for extraordinary heroism under fire. i loved billy then and i will always love him. billy was a homosexual.

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Patrick Murphy: every single marine in our company will be proud to stand with him and call him friend and broth

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Lois Capps: . i turn ms. lois capps. mrs. capps: thank you to my colleagues. i'm so honored to be with you this evening and i thank you for

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Speech By: Lois Capps

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Lois Capps: organizing this time and for your leadership on this issue. it's a humbling experience to come to the podium and well following the eloquent testimon that you and our colleague, tim walz, have given us, the two of you having distinguished yourselves in uniform, serving our country on the battlefield

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Lois Capps: and your ell o'quens and your statements and your -- eloquence and your statements and testimony gives credibility to it and credence. and you have that ability to do that and i thank you that you are stepping up and leading this effort. i'm honored to join you. i believe it takes those of you

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Lois Capps: who served to express your leadership in this way, but i believe the rest of us who didn't have that experience of serving, but who are so grateful to those who did want to join you in this kind of effort. i'm so honored to stand here this evening tonight with our colleagues from different parts

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Lois Capps: of the country, from different backgrounds and experiences, all with this conviction that we have in lending our support to the military readiness enhancement act. it has been stated already and will be stated again, don't ask-don't tell is discriminatory, detrimental to the productivity of our armed

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Lois Capps: forces and contradicts the very foundation of equality that the united states of america is founded upon. plain and simple. it is way past time for this prejudiced policy to end. over as you stated before, over 12,000 men and women have been discharged from the military

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Lois Capps: since 1993 because of their sexual ownertation, because of their sexuality. that's over 12,000 gifted and qualified individuals our military could not afford to lose in the first place. we must keep the repeal of don't ask-don't tell on our priority list in this congress.

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Lois Capps: and this issue must also remain on the national conscience as well. we have to seek out every opportunity that we can to jate our constituents that don't ask-don't tell threatens not only our national security but our inherent rights as americans. i'm very grateful for the

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Lois Capps: countless individuals who are working in our communities to do just that. many of them are current and former members of the military and do their service and do our country greaby that's correct but i want us to widen that. we can't leave it up to those who served to tell this story out of personal experiences. we have to join them, because we

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Lois Capps: are a part of that movement as well. and there are numerous organizations working across the country to inform people and citizens, all citizens, about the gin justice of this policy i'm proud that one of these organizations, the palm center is located at the university of

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Lois Capps: california at santa barbara. nathaniel frank is a senior research fellow. i have listened to him and he has written extensively about how detrimental this policy is in a book entitled "unfriendly fire." he explains how don't ask-don't

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Lois Capps: tell has added to the challenge of recruiting and keeping qualified soldiers in the military and describes how the ban undermines cowhetion that it is designed to protect the very very reasons for establishing this policy had the effect of

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Lois Capps: undermining troop morale and troop discipline and this is evidence that has been gathered now, substantial enough that it is way past time as i said for us to act on it. for organizations like the palm center and the testimony of our our civilian and military

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Lois Capps: allies, we can and we must overturn the ban on gays in the military. i applaud the -- our president's stance on this issue and i look forward to getting the military readiness enhancement arkt to his desk as soon as possible. at least that's his goal and i'm grateful to lay the groundwork

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Lois Capps: for it. every day that passes with the don't ask-don't tell policy continuing in its place, the united states military loses out on more and more qualified applicants. for a country at war, this is simply inexcuseable and threatens the safety and security of our overstretched

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Lois Capps: deployed troops today. every effort needs to be taken that those serving have the materials, the support and the work environment that they need to function most effectively. the brave men and women serving today in our armed forces deserve nothing less than the ability to be honest about who they are.

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Lois Capps: thanyou again, mr. murphy and my colleagues for organizing this hour and giving us the opportunity to speak out on this very important issue for holding this special order to bring

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Patrick Murphy: further attention to the military readiness enhancement act. and i yield back to you again, mr. murphy. mr. murphy: i would like to highlight the fact that nathaniel frank does a great job. they do what's right by our soldiers and by our marines,

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Speech By: Patrick Murphy

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Patrick Murphy: airmen, sailors and coast gaurppedsmen. now it's my honor to turn it over to the gentleman from colorado, mr. polis who happens

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Jared Polis: to be my sister and brother-in-law's congressman. i know brian and kathy are probably watching and i would like to turn it over to their coressman, mr. polis. mr. polis: they give me a lot of trouble. thank you for giving me the research that was done regarding this matter and i would like to

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Speech By: Jared Polis

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Jared Polis: thank representative patrick murphy for taking this challenge on and making our military stronger and saving taxpayer money. i would like to bring the attention of our viewers to a recent report that was publis called the efficacy of don't ask-don't tell by colonel pr

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Jared Polis: a/k/a sh. and this was national securities a competition. one of the quotes on the cover is from general omar bradley and says experiments in the army in the solution of social problems

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Jared Polis: are fraught with efficiency and morale. current discussion but in reference to the racial integration of the united states military by harry truman in 1948. at some point, the so-called experimentation becomes the exclusion at this point in the evolution of our society.

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Jared Polis: it is more experimental to use the military as a social in baitor to deny gays and lesbians to serve. the military isn't the place for evaluating whether or not we as a society accept or don't accept homosexuality, but should be used as a fighting force to

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Jared Polis: defend our nation. it is not in our interest as a country that lessens our military. if one considers the manpower and expense, don't ask-don't tell is a failure.

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Jared Polis: he cites that it is $190.5 million for don't ask-don't tell. not only does it cost money but costs lives. when we put our personnel forward, we jeardy ice the lives of men and women in our military. we owe it to the men and women serving to ensure the most

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Jared Polis: capable person is in every job regardless of the race or the sexual ownertation of that individual. colonel pr a/k/a sh ends on this it is not time for the administration to examine how to implement the repeal of the ban. i know we have a number of other speakers here tonight.

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Jared Polis: mr. murphy and that's testimony to your leadership and the

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Patrick Murphy: importance of thiissue and i look forward to engaging in a discussion after we have all had a chance to say a few words. highlight this report. the colonel writes and i quote, there are potential lessons to learn from other countries that have lifted the bans of

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Speech By: Patrick Murphy

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Patrick Murphy: homosexuals. there is no mass exodus or coming out of homosexuals. prior to lifting their ban in canada, 62% said they would refuse to share showers with a gay soldiers. in united kingdom, 2/3 said they

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Patrick Murphy: would not serve. in both cases, after lifting their bans, the result was no effect whatsoever. in a survey of over 100 experts from australia, canada, israel and united kingdom, it was found that all agreed the decision to lift the ban on homosexuals had no impact, i repeat, no impact

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Patrick Murphy: on military performance, ready ns, cowhetion or ability to recruit or retain nor did it increase the h.i. vimplet rate. don't ask-don't tell has been treasure and an attempt to allow home sexals to serve quietly a

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Patrick Murphy: law was created that forces a compromise conflicting with the american creed with equal for all and it is ultimately more damaging to the cowhetion and stated puose is to preserve. furthermore after careful examination, there is no scientific evidence to support

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Patrick Murphy: the claim that it will be negatively affected if homosexuals serve openly and the psychological predictions is that it will not impact combat effectiveness. it is now time for the administration to examine the issue and time to examine how to implement the repeal of the ban.