Activists working on repeal of “Don't
Ask, Don't Tell” are targeting three senators in an effort to break
an expected Republican filibuster on Tuesday.
Arizona Senator John McCain, the
ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, is leading
the effort to block Tuesday's Senate vote on the National Defense
Authorization Act because it includes language repealing the 1993 law
that bans gay troops from serving openly.
Demonstrators, led by the Arizona-based
gay rights group Human and Equal Rights Organizers (HERO), will
hold a protest rally in front of McCain's Phoenix office Monday
morning beginning at 11AM local time.
“We will hold him accountable until
he does the right thing and votes for the defense authorization bill
which includes the repeal of DADT,” the group said in announcing
the action.
Organizers behind a
Monday 4PM ET rally in Portland featuring pop singer Lady Gaga
are hoping to convince Maine Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan
Collins, who are both Republican, to vote for repeal of the law. The
rally is sponsored by Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN),
the largest group lobbying for repeal.
Earlier, Aubrey Sarvis, the group's
executive director, said the votes to break McCain's threatened
filibuster are not there and urged supporters to call their senators.
“Like Lady Gaga, all New England
senators, indeed all 100 senators, Democrats and Republicans, need to
engage in a real debate on this issue, and not just posture and spin
this week over procedure and Senate rules,” Sarvis said in a
statement.