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A federal judge ordered the United States military to stop the enforcement of the controversial Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy Tuesday. U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Phillips ruled that the policy “infringes the fundamental rights of United States service members” and violates both their First and Fifth Amendment rights. The Log Cabin Republicans, a gay-rights group, first brought up this case when they sued the federal government in 2004 in an attempt to end the policy. The injunction requires the military “immediately to suspend and discontinue any investigation, or discharge, separation, or other proceeding, that may have been commenced under the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Act.” Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell prohibits openly homosexual and bisexual people from serving in the armed forces and prevents the military from asking service members about their sexual orientation. The House of Representatives voted to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in late May by a vote of 234-194. However, despite a 56-43 vote Sept. 21, the Senate did not pass the bill that would
have ended the policy due to a Republican-led filibuster. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, enacted in 1993, resulted in the discharge of 10,000 military personnel in the last decade, according to a statement from the Log Cabin Republicans. The LGBT Campus Center at UW-Madison was thrilled with the result of the ruling. “This is a big step forward for LGBT people not being treated as second-class citizens by the government,” Student Services specialist Aiden Caes said. Fair Wisconsin, a LGBTrights advocacy group, shared the enthusiasm. “Fair Wisconsin is very excited about the landmark decision by the federal judge to strike down the discriminatory policy of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Executive Director Katie Belanger said. “We are looking forward to gay and lesbian members of the military being able to serve openly.” Belanger also said she thinks the reversal of this policy will strengthen the country’s military. “In times of crisis, we need the strongest military possible,” Belanger said. “And by allowing gays and lesbians to serve in the military, it means that we are more prepared to defend our country.”
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Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Don’t Ask Don’t Tell a thing of the past By Adam Wollner
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Falk announces new crisis centers By Ariel Shapiro The Daily Cardinal
Ben Pierson/the daily cardinal
Wisconsin Democrats honored activists and politicians at the Orpheum Theatre at the 12th Annual Eleanor Roosevelt Tribute
Wisconsin women honored in the name of Roosevelt By Ariel Shapiro The Daily Cardinal
Wisconsin’s most prominent Democratic women gathered at the Orpheum Theatre Tuesday night to celebrate Eleanor Roosevelt by awarding women who follow in her legacy of activism at the Wisconsin Democratic Party-sponsored event. Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., gubernatorial candidate Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett’s wife Kris, Dane County
Executive Kathleen Falk and special guest Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., were among the speakers at the event. The speakers and award winners all praised Roosevelt for her achievements and Democratic ideals, but the upcoming election was always at the forefront. “Eleanor Roosevelt was a pioneer,” Baldwin said. “I believe if she were here now in these crucial roosevelt page 3
Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk announced the development of two new crisis centers in the area at a press conference at the Mental Health Care Center of Dane County Tuesday. “We will now be able to make sure people experiencing mental health emergencies get the help they need without using hospital emergency rooms and costly institutions like Mendota,” Falk said. The two new 24-hour facilities, which will be located at the Tellurian Center and the Mental Health Care Center, will have a combined capacity of 20 patients who are at risk for psychiatric hospitalization. William Greer, CEO of the Mental Health Center of Dane County, said the new centers will help lift pressure off hospital emergency rooms. “Area emergency rooms are not set-up to serve persons experiencing an acute psychotic crisis,” he said. Falk said the recent suicide at Rutgers University and the following response shows how necessary mental-health facilities are. “The recent tragic stories in the newspapers are really an indication of what goes on every day in communities across the country,” she said. Falk said she hopes to make Dane County an example for others to follow. “One out of five of us at any given time have a mental health challenge,” she said. “We have built a mental health system here in Dane County that others in the nation come to see and learn from, and this is one more step in making this system the best we can possibly have.”
State requests to join federal stem-cell funding case
‘Revenge of the Nerds’
Ben Pierson/the daily cardinal
Students crammed into Helen C. White Library to prepare for exams Tuesday night.
The state of Wisconsin filed a motion with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to join an amicus brief in the case that will determine the state of stem cell research nationwide, Gov. Jim Doyle announced Tuesday. “Families around the world are depending on the stem cell research conducted in Wisconsin to provide life saving medical breakthroughs,” Doyle said in a statement. “Today the state is moving forward to join as a friend of the court in efforts to secure federal funding and support stem cell businesses and researchers in Wisconsin.” If the request is granted, the state will join the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research, to which UW-Madison and dozens of other universities and organiza-
tions already belong. Sherley v. Sebelius, the case Doyle said the state would help fight, could prohibit the federal government from providing funding for stem-cell research. Doyle stressed not only the health benefits of stem-cell research, but what the lack of funding could mean for the state’s economy. Wisconsin is home to hundreds of bioscience companies and 11 stem cell-specific companies employing thousands of workers, according to the statement. “Many of these jobs are at risk today,” Doyle said in a letter to the Wisconsin Congressional Delegation. “Losing the millions of dollars in federal grants that our top researchers have earned will be detrimental to this state.”
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”