Brody's Notes... Congressman Patrick Murphy(D-PA): "True Patriot And Hero"

Patrick Murphy (D-PA)  Official U. S. House of Representatives Portrait

By Linsey Pecikonis (Washington DC) DEC 16 | For the second time this year, the U.S. House of Representatives voted yesterday afternoon to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The final vote tally on the stand alone measure was 250 to 175.

Both bills were introduced by outgoing Pennsylvania Representative Patrick Murphy, (D) who has spearheaded the House efforts to get the repeal of DADT enacted.

Michael Mitchell, Executive Director of the National Stonewall Democrats released this statement in response to the standalone bill repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell being introduced:

"We applaud our friend Rep. Patrick Murphy (PA-8) , a true patriot and hero, who just introduced the standalone DADT repeal bill in the House, along with Rep. Steny Hoyer (MD-5). Once again, Patrick shows true leadership by working to bring freedom to our brave men and women in uniform who are forced to serve in silence under the discriminatory DADT.

We expect another strong victory in the House for DADT repeal – a victory we should savor as we expect there to be few for our community when the Republicans take control of the House next month. We’re honored that Rep. Murphy, Rep. Hoyer and Speaker Pelosi are marshaling an army of support for repeal in the House.

We again call on the Senate to pass DADT repeal before they adjourn the session. To go home before the discriminatory DADT is overturned would be a dereliction of duty on their part – and especially galling, given the GOP obstructionism that has gotten us here in the first place.”

Last night on her show on MSNBC, host Rachel Maddow also praised Congressman Murphy while noting that the Log Cabin Republicans had not only opposed Murphy's reelection but backed his opponent who had won. Maddow said, ""Behold what is supposed to be a gay rights movement siding against [DADT sponsor] Rep. Patrick Murphy."

UPDATE: According to the Editors of The Advocate, the Log Cabin Republicans say Rachel Maddow was way off base when she criticized the gay conservative group for endorsing Republican Mike Fitzpatrick over his Democratic opponent, "don't ask, don't tell" repeal advocate Congressman Patrick Murphy.

Log Cabin deputy executive director Christian Berle said in a statement to The Advocate that Murphy’s support of repeal — he authored the stand-alone bill that was passed by the House Wednesday — had nothing to do with his being defeated, and he criticized Maddow for suggesting as much.

[ Statement Here ]