Servicemembers Legal Defense Fund Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis has rejected a new plan to study the implications of repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” before the Obama administration attempts to repeal the policy.

While sources say the study is needed to garner support in Congress for a repeal, this news worried some advocates. Since the policy is not written into law, repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is not as simple as issuing an executive order, and Obama will need the support of Congress if he is to make good on his promise to repeal. However, studies and commissions can often force issues to be ignored for indefinite periods of time.

Aubrey Sarvis of the Huffington Post writes:

What we don’t welcome — what we strongly oppose — is yet another “study,” which is Washington-speak for saying “let’s just kick this down the road a ways.” Out of sight, out of mind. You see, we’re for repeal but don’t really want to take a public stand right now (or we’re bigots but don’t have the guts to say so, outright bigotry being pretty unfashionable these days). So let’s appropriate money for a commission or a study, maybe both. We’ll have to appoint some members. That alone could take months. Of course the commission will need a staff. And offices. It could easily take a year before they get down to actually studying the issue (that’s already been studied to death). Eventually — and it could be a very long “eventually” — we may see a report, the most recent in a long line of reports that began in 1988. That’s 21 years ago!

Let’s be clear: a commission or a study group is not about change. That’s business as usual. We do not need another report to tell us what we already know and what earlier reports have long since concluded: the sexual orientation of a service member is irrelevant. What is relevant is how well he or she does the job.

So let’s just skip another study. Let the new Administration display the courage of its convictions instead. Let them match their campaign promises with timely action. We’ll continue to hold the President’s feet to the fire but not in it — yet. I’m optimistic that Congress and the Administration, without resorting to yet another study, can throw out the single remaining law that permits, indeed demands the firing of someone because of his or her sexual orientation. Despite the fears of some, sexual orientation is not contagious nor is it a choice. Tinky Winky the Teletubby never made anyone gay — or straight, for that matter. As mounting evidence suggests, we’re born that way.

In this country, we don’t fire people because of the genes they’re born with. We’ve come to understand that to protect the rights of the minority is to protect the rights of the majority as well. We’re all in this together, folks. Put those outdated fears aside and just do it. Yes, you can. Yes, we can.