Sen. Al Franken gave an emotional speech on the Senate floor on Tuesday on allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. He recounted his days on the USO circuit and how many in the military support LGBT servicemembers. A repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was included in a defense authorization bill, but it was filibustered on Tuesday forcing Democrats to drop action on the bill.

Here are Franken’s remarks:

And here is full text of his remarks:

M. President, I rise to discuss two important issues that we won’t have the chance to debate because we were unable to take up the Defense Authorization bill.

Let me start with the need for repeal of the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. We’re so close to making an historic accomplishment that we’d be able to look back on with pride. And it’s also simply the right thing to do. This country is long past ready for it. And it’s the right thing because the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy has been costly for our military.

Treating gays and lesbians unequally because of their sexual orientation just doesn’t make sense to me. We should not be denying gay and lesbian Americans the ability to serve our nation simply because of who they are. We should not make them lie in order to serve.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, endorsed the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. He put it this way, and I quote, “I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens. For me, personally, it comes down to integrity: theirs as individuals and ours as an institution.” End quote.

But as I said, this isn’t just the right thing to do. The country is ready for it, and the military is ready for it.

Things have changed since 1993. The country is now way ahead of us on this issue. A Washington Post / ABC News poll in February 2010 showed that 75 percent of Americans believe that gay and lesbian Americans should be able to serve openly in the U.S. military. 75 percent! There’s almost nothing we can get 75 percent of the country to agree on these days.

The country has been steadily moving in this direction for some time. In 1993, 44 percent of those surveyed favored this. It was up to 62 percent in 2001. And now we’re at 75 percent. Multiple other polls reinforce this result. The country is way past being ready for this change.

And so is the military.

Do we need to think carefully about how to implement the repeal? Yes, and that’s why the Pentagon is undertaking a comprehensive review of how to implement the repeal. But is there any reason to think unit cohesion or military readiness is going to be negatively affected? No. There simply is no reason to think that.

In fact, let’s look to the military’s own thinking on this question. A recent article in Joint Force Quarterly concluded “there is no scientific evidence to support the claim that unit cohesion will be negatively affected if homosexuals serve openly.” Unquote. No scientific evidence.

Let me also briefly tell you about my experience. Before I was a Senator, I did a number of USO tours over the years. And on each tour, I was more and more impressed by the men and women of our military.

I always did Don’t Ask Don’t Tell material, and over the years that I did the tours, you could feel the change in the military.

I was on, I think, my seventh tour. As we always did, we had an eclectic show, and it was a long show too. Most of the troops would be standing for four hours during the show, though I remember during this one particular show at one of our bases, there was a group of female soldiers sitting in the bleachers who were particularly enthusiastic.

The troops loved the show, probably because otherwise they spent all of their time either in danger, or incredibly bored.

So I got to my Don’t Ask Don’t Tell material. “One thing I don’t get,” I’d say, “is Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. The bravest serve. Take your commander, for instance. He’s one of the bravest men ever to serve in the U.S. military. And he’s also one of the gayest. General, stand up, thank you!” The troops loved this, they thought it was hilarious, everyone was cheering and laughing – maybe especially those female soldiers up in the bleachers.

And at the end of the show, there was a very moving performance of a patriotic song, which was always very emotional. The commander gave each of us a flag that flew over the base – I still have it in my office – and he told me, “Al, keep telling those Don’t Ask Don’t Tell jokes.” And that group of female soldiers up in the bleachers came up to me after the show to tell me how much they loved my Don’t Ask Don’t Tell material, and that it was personally important to them.

This was during a very difficult time. The war in Iraq was going very badly, people were doing multiple deployments.

All gay and lesbian service members want is to be able to serve. Instead, people are getting kicked out of the military – people who don’t need any kind of conduct waiver, people who don’t need standards lowered for them in order to serve. People who are patriotic and courageous, and who have vital, irreplaceable skills.

What’s more, the evidence is clear from other countries that have allowed gay and lesbian citizens to serve openly in their militaries. That evidence says that this will not be a problem. Ask the Israelis. Ask the Canadians. Ask the British. They’ve all successfully implemented open service.

But it’s not only that the military is ready for this change. Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is costly for our military. Thousands of willing and capable Americans with needed skills have been kicked out of the military because of this foolish policy and this policy alone. These are soldiers and airmen and sailors who we’ve invested time and training in. We really can’t afford to lose dedicated personnel with critical skills when we’re engaged in two wars.

On top of that, do we really want our military officers spending valuable time and resources investigating and kicking troops out of the military for being gay?

The argument offered by some opponents is that this legislation goes back on the promise to take into account the comprehensive review being conducted by the Pentagon. But this is a canard.

Let me remind you what Secretary Gates said about the review when he testified before the Armed Service Committee back in February. Secretary Gates said, “I fully support the President’s decision. The question before us is not whether the military prepares to make this change, but how we best prepare for it.” Not whether, but how.

That process is going forward. And the provision in this bill repealing the flawed Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy does nothing to interfere with the Pentagon’s process. All the provision does is repeal the existing law. It does not tell the Department of Defense how to implement the repeal.

What’s more, the repeal itself doesn’t even go into effect until after the Pentagon’s comprehensive review is complete and the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have certified that the Department of Defense has prepared the necessary policies and regulations for implementation. They also must certify that the implementation is consistent with military readiness and effectiveness, unit cohesion, and recruiting and retention.

To be honest, I’m not fully satisfied with that compromise. I wanted a moratorium on discharges. But that’s the compromise, and it doesn’t undercut the Pentagon’s review in any way.

“Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” makes no sense. It’s foolish, it’s unjust, and we must end it. The country is ready, the military is ready, and it’s the right thing to do. I urge all of my colleagues to stand for equality and common sense, and to stand up for our troops. It’s long past time to end Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. We will be proud that we did.