Nope.
In a press conference yesterday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs evaded Advocate reporter Kerry Eleveld’s questions about whether or not the White House has a timeline for DADT repeal. Conventional wisdom holds that any DADT repeal needs to be attached to the President’s 2011 defense budget requests to be certain it will pass this year, as many advocates don’t hold out much hope for a repeal to pass after the mid-term elections. In truth, this is not very surprising, given that no-one in the legislative leadership is pushing for a “Set End-Date/Delayed Implementation Plan,” as promoted by Servicemembers United, that would let the Pentagon conduct their sacred implementation study while fixing a start date before the midterm elections. AmericaBlog points out that the door hasn’t yet closed on including anything in the 2011 Defense Appropriation bill, but it’s getting mighty close, and a failure here would look pretty silly after giving the repeal such billing in his State of the Union address.
Elsewhere
D.C. – Is Lieberman even the right person to lead a DADT repeal? Instead of being another Ted Kennedy, he’s a traitor to one side and a pawn to the other. (Queerty)
D.C. – Obama’s revised healthcare proposal drops those groundbreaking – and needed – LGBT provisions, including provisions making HIV drugs available to low-income folks through Medicare. (Towleroad)
West Virginia – Will WV House Republicans force a vote on gay marriage ban? (Towleroad)
Texas – Two gay softball players were bashed on their way home from the bar while wearing their team t-shirts, and they’re not going to take this lying down. (The Advocate)
The Boob Tube – Gleeeeee! The cast of the homo-rific TV show will perform at the White House Easter Egg Roll on April 5, because the Obamas are such big fans. Maybe Chris Colfer should boycott if Obama shows no leadership on DADT. (The Advocate)