About MREA
Military Readiness Enhancement Act (MREA)
The Military Readiness Enhancement Act (MREA) was
introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives as House
bill H.R.1059 on March 2, 2005 by Congressman Marty
Meehan (D-MA). The bill seeks to repeal Section 654
of Title 10 of the U.S. Code. This is the statutory
provision enacted in 1993 that gives rise to the “Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell” policy (DADT), and mandates
that military servicemembers who are honest about their
homosexual or bisexual orientation must be discharged
from the U.S. Armed Forces. This bill would replace
DADT with a policy stating that “The Secretary
of Defense, and the Secretary of Homeland Security with
respect to the Coast Guard when it is not operating
as a service in the Navy, may not discriminate on the
basis of sexual orientation against any member of the
armed forces or against any person seeking to become
a member of the armed forces.”
The bill also clearly defines “discrimination
on the basis of sexual orientation.” It includes:
(1) in the case of a member of the armed forces, the
taking of any personnel or administrative action (including
any action relating to promotion, demotion, evaluation,
selection for an award, selection for a duty assignment,
transfer, or separation) in whole or in part on the
basis of sexual orientation; and
(2) in the case of a person seeking to become a member
of the armed forces, denial of accession into the armed
forces in whole or in part on the basis of sexual orientation.
Sexual orientation is also defines as including “heterosexuality,
homosexuality, or bisexuality, whether the orientation
is real or perceived, and includes statements and consensual
sexual conduct manifesting heterosexuality, homosexuality,
or bisexuality.”
There are several things MREA does not do. It does
not:
• Grant or guarantee any form of benefits to
same-sex partners of military servicemembers.
• De-criminalize sodomy, “conduct unbecoming
an officer,” or any other provision of the Uniform
Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) that regulates the conduct
of servicemembers, as long as those provisions are designed
and applied without regard to sexual orientation.
• Deal directly with any issues related to gender
identity.
• Give servicemembers or veterans a right to bring
a legal claim for damages.
The MREA was referred to the House Armed Services Committee
on March 2, 2005, which referred it to the Subcommittee
on Military Personnel on March17, 2005. Neither the
Committee nor the Subcommittee have taken any action
on the bill other than to request an Executive Comment
from the Department of Defense. As of July 4, 2006,
H.R. 1059 had 114 cosponsors in addition to Congressman
Meehan. Passage of the bill is unlikely during the 109th
Congress, so the bill will likely need to be re-introduced
in the 110th Congress. Most bills typically need to
be introduced several years in a row before they have
a reasonable chance of passage.
MEA strongly supports the passage of the MREA and salutes
the courage of Congressman Meehan and the hard work
of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) on
the introduction of this important bill.
You can check the current status of the MREA at http://thomas.loc.gov.
To see SLDN’s analysis of the MREA, click
here:To see why the Human Rights Campaign
(HRC) supports this bill, click
here: To see what Congressman Meehan
has to say about his bill, click
here:
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