Tuesday, October 26, 2010

LGBT Leaders meet about DADT at the White House today


I think right now there's a meeting at the White House about DADT and how how to move forward in a possible lame duck session. 
Metro Weekly has the scoop:
[T]he White House is meeting with several interested parties to discuss the legislative repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. The meeting will concern the work that remains to be done to ensure Congressional action on this issue this year."
The meeting is to take place at 4:30 p.m. today, is to have bi-partisan participation and is, per Bond's email, "off the record."


R. Clarke Cooper, the executive director of Log Cabin Republicans, is reportedly one of the expected attendees for the meeting, as is Servicemembers United executive director Alex Nicholson. Nicholson is the individually named representative of the plaintiffs in the Log Cabin Republicans v. United States lawsuit. Assuming their attendance, the government would have an obligation not to discuss the case with the two men directly without their lawyers present.

There were rumors about if certain things were brought up during the meet and greet, the meeting was over. But here's the real reason:

Asked for comment, however, an administration official stressed that there are very precise legal lines that can't be crossed. One of them is talking about ongoing litigation with litigants in the room.

"Some of the participants in the meeting are involved in active litigation against the government on the issue of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, so it wouldn't be appropriate to discuss that litigation," said the administration official "This is standard procedure for any meeting where that would be the case."
"You could add further that our lawyers can't have contact with represented parties without their counsel being present."

So I hope this clears up some stuff. As usual, some people got to screw up the facts for their own gain. But I try to keep y'all in the know.

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