Pennsylvania Congressman Patrick Murphy Takes Over As Chief Sponsor Of Legislation To Repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

Chapter News - July 13th, 2009



	Dear Friend, Today is a special day, and I wanted to take a moment to thank you for making it possible. In less than an hour, we will officially announce that I am taking over as the chief sponsor for The Military Readiness Enhancement Act – the bill that will finally repeal the policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” I have been speaking out against for many years against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” – first as an ROTC cadet, then as a professor at West Point, and later as a candidate and a congressman. To now take the lead on such an important piece of legislation is an honor and a privilege beyond words. This is going to be a busy day full of meetings and interviews. We’ll even be launching a new website dedicated to this issue:www.letthemserve.com. But before it all got started I wanted to thank you for giving me the opportunity to stand up and fight for for the values we all believe in. I couldn’t do this without you, and I’ll never forget that. Thank you again for your support – I hope I am making you proud. Sincerely, Patrick J. Murphy P.S. Our day will wrap up tonight with an interview on Rachel Maddow’s show on MSNBC. Stay tuned for more details!



	Dear Friends, What an incredible week this has been. As you know, this week I officially took over as the lead sponsor of the Military Readiness Enhancement Act - the bill that will repeal the discriminatory policy known as "Don't Ask, Don't, Tell". Since the announcement, I have received hundreds of emails, phone calls, notes, and Facebook messages of support and encouragement. I wanted to write you all briefly to thank you for all of your kind words, and to update you on a few recent developments. Since the last email I sent you, our website devoted to the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" has gone live. You can find it atwww.letthemserve.com. You can go there to find the original speech I gave to the National Press Club, along with more information on the MREA and DADT. While you're there, you can join the hundreds of supporters who have already co-signed my letter to my colleagues in Congress urging action on the repeal of DADT. Also, on Wednesday I told you I would be appearing on The Rachel Maddow Show. Just in case you missed it, here's the clip: Let me know what you think! Once again, I want to thank you for your incredible support and encouragement. While we've made tremendous progress in just the last few days, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" isn't going away overnight. This is going to be a long fight, and I am going to need your help to get it done. We have the chance to end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" for good, but we have to do it together. Thank you again, Patrick J. Murphy