ACT OUT participates in day of lobbying

Mike Alberti Assistant Life Editor

Last Monday, March 26, ACT OUT and the Vassar College Democrats teamed up to actively raise United States politicians’ awareness of the controversial “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. The two groups sent representatives to Washington, D.C., where they participated in Lobby Day, an event organized annually by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN). During Lobby Day, volunteers from all over the country traveled to Washington, divide into groups and visit the office of every single member of congress in a single day to express their disapproval of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

“‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ is damaging to the thousands in the military who have to lie about who they are,” said ACT OUT President Judy Jarvis ’07 in an e-mailed statement. “It’s damaging to their friends and lovers and it’s damaging to our government, which kicks out excellent employees on the basis of this ridiculous stipulation of outward heterosexuality.”

The seven Vassar students that attended Lobby Day drove to Washington on Sunday, where they stayed overnight in order to participate early on Monday morning. The volunteers were split in groups of four, and then dispersed to visit the offices of representatives.
Vassar Democrats President Kari Kretch ’07 said, “We wanted to make them hear about the issue as much as possible, so they can’t say they didn’t know people were concerned.”

Each group of activists was guided by a leader trained by the SLDN. “The leaders we were with were all really impressed with how much the Vassar students knew about the issue and how effectively they were able to present their case,” said Kretch.

Though none of the representatives visited by Vassar students were in their offices at the time, the students were often able to speak with staff members and leave messages for the politicians. After the initial round of office visits, activists were given the opportunity to speak with the representatives from their own personal districts. The Vassar group visited the offices of Democratic Rep. John Hall from Vassar’s own 19th district and Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York the idea being that, as constituents, the student’s voices would have more weight.

At the end of the day, speakers were featured at a rally in front of the capitol. Among the speakers was Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, one of the two openly gay members of Congress. Vassar students held banners and wore t-shirts saying “Lift the Ban” and “End Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
According to Jarvis, this is a very important time for opponents of the policy to voice their opinions, as there is currently a bill in the House called the Military Readiness Enhancement Act which would effectively repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Jarvis said, “I think [the bill] has the chance to become law, but only if it comes with a lot of grassroots support, which ACT OUT and Vassar Dems hope to be a part of.”

Kretch is very optimistic. “We did a really good job,” she said. “The people we talked to were very responsive. I think that the event was very effective in raising visibility of the issue on Capitol Hill, which was the goal of the day.”