Jun 12, 2009  |  By: Chris Johnson  | COMMENTS     

Capitol Hill sources are disputing a report suggesting that LGBT rights leaders “made a deal” with federal lawmakers to hold off on pushing for a repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

But the sources also acknowledge a previously reported timeline showing that Congress intends to work to overturn the law next year after taking action on hate crimes legislation and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

The video report, published last week by Jason Bellini of the Daily Beast, says LGBT rights leaders “made a deal” with lawmakers “to not push for an end to ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ until sometime next year” and instead pursue passage of hate crimes legislation and ENDA.

The piece also reports that multiple sources said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) “let slip” to LGBT leaders that the Human Rights Campaign told him that repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is not an administration priority. Schumer’s office reportedly didn’t respond to the Beast’s request for comment.

On June 5, HRC spokesperson Brad Luna issued a statement denying the Beast’s report and saying it’s “not only an outright lie, it is recklessly irresponsible.”

“HRC never made such a deal and continues to work with Congress and the administration on a full range of equality issues including a swift end to the military’s shameful ban on lesbian and gay service members,” he said.

HRC also provided a statement from Brian Fallon, spokesperson for Schumer, who denied the accuracy of the report.

“Sen. Schumer has never said the White House didn’t consider the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ a priority, and he never said the Human Rights Campaign struck some quote-unquote deal on this issue,” he said. “Any rumors to the contrary are flat-out wrong.”

Bellini said in a statement sent to the Blade on June 5 that he stands by his report.

“I stand by the reporting, which I have re-confirmed since the HRC response to my post,” he said. “My sources include senior congressional staffers and key figures in the LGBT community.”

The Daily Beast is not the only media source with sources saying LGBT leaders made a deal to hold off on the proposed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal.

In a June 4 blog entry, Michelangelo Signorile, a Sirius radio talk show host, reported that Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Center at the University of California in Santa Barbara, a think-tank on gays in the military, made similar assertions in an interview.

“It would be one thing to say nothing, but there is pro-active lobbying on the Hill for Congress not to consider [the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’] issue,” Belkin is quoted as saying. “And so the community has been appalling on this issue.”

When asked about the work of HRC, the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force and other groups, Belkin reportedly said he feels “very confident in saying” that “not only are they not doing anything but they’re pro-actively lobbying against consideration of the issue.”

But David Smith, HRC’s vice president of programs, said any notion that LGBT leaders made a deal to hold off on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is “ridiculously false.”

Smith noted that Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the longest-serving openly gay person in Congress, has publicly outlined a legislative timeline prioritizing the hate crimes bill, followed by ENDA in the fall and the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” next year.

“He’s also said that … a legislative effort to overturn ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ will likely occur early next year, and the process will probably start later on this year [with] announcing the legislative campaign,” Smith said.

Smith said he believes the White House has a plan to push for repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” next year.

But he added that “Congress is a fluid body” and if lobbyists believe they have the votes to overturn “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” before ENDA is passed, then the repeal of the ban on open service could be moved up on the agenda.

Still, Smith was doubtful that enough support could be mustered to accomplish repeal at this point in time.

“I don’t believe we have the Senate and I’m not 100 percent sure we have the votes in the House to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ right now,” he said. “People think, magically, we should just do it now. We don’t have the votes now.”

Smith said repeal supporters need to lobby members of Congress to “deliver those votes” to overturn the law.

Harry Gural, a Frank spokesperson, also expressed skepticism about the Beast report and said Frank’s office “has heard nothing about [a deal] whatsoever.”

“We haven’t heard anything about it whatsoever and you ...