Lt. Dan Choi Protesting DADT @ The National Equality March, October 11th, 2009, Photo By The Associated Press
By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) Jan 28 | Earlier today Politico reported from a Tampa Town Hall Meeting (2:31 p.m.EST) that: A student asked President Obama what he is doing for equality for gays, referencing his promise last night to repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" rule in the military.Obama replied: "A basic principle in our Constitution is, if you're obeying the law, if you're following the rules, than you should be treated the same. Regardless of who you are." “That principle applies to gay and lesbian couples. Some of the best run companies have adopted similar practices," he said, adding: “It makes sense for us to take a leadership role so people are treated the same."
Reactions have ranged from positive to derisive, calling on the President to end it now and make it an executive order. Lt. Dan Choi, (Pictured above) a leading and very vocal opponent of DADT was quoted as saying;
"Last night, the President repeated his campaign commitment to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell as part of his State of the Union address. While the President promised that DADT would come to an end "this year," he did not provide specifics -- and the White House still has not released a plan to kill it. That's unacceptable. I served in the Army for a decade under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" -- an immoral policy that forces American soldiers to lie about their sexual orientation. Worse, it forces others to tolerate deception. As I learned at West Point, deception and lies poison a unit and cripple a fighting force. That's why I feel strongly that America can't afford to allow this policy to continue one day longer. The time for talk is over. The time for action is now.”
LGBT Equality Rights organisations via Press Releases has been somewhat tamer in their response to Mr. Obama's remarks:
National Stonewall Democrats:
Tonight, National Stonewall Democrats commend President Barack Obama for calling for the end of the policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which bans gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military. We are concerned that President Obama did not address workplace discrimination during his first State of the Union address to Congress.
With the President's leadership, now it is up to Congress to act. We're rolling out a new strategic campaign to do exactly that - put an end to the discriminatory law that's forced thousands of lesbian and gay members of the military to lie about who they are or face losing their jobs. We've spent months designing a plan to pass legislation which repeals DADT. The plan will include organizing veterans across the country, generating media coverage in key markets and building focused campaigns in targeted states that will be critical to securing the final votes in the House and Senate. First step: pushing legislation through the House by building a well-spring of support from representatives, while laying the groundwork for a critical fight in the Senate. Help us capitalize on the President's pledge tonight by asking your representative and senators to move quickly to repeal DADT. Tomorrow morning when Congress returns to work, we want to make sure their inboxes are flooded with emails echoing the President's call to repeal DADT.
We have heard promises before about ending 'Don’t Ask, Don't Tell' and we welcome the President's statement tonight that the time has finally come to fulfill that promise. Very little has changed since Lambda Legal represented Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer 18 years ago after she was discharged for being a lesbian. Changing this discriminatory policy is long overdue. The military is our nation's largest employer and this government sanctioned discrimination must end. We will continue to advocate for the repeal of DADT so that gay and lesbian services members and their families can serve openly and with the same support afforded to other military families.
President Obama tonight vowed this year to work with Congress and the military to finally repeal the reprehensible ban on openly lesbian, gay and bisexual service members. While we know the State of the Union speech aims to present broad visions, the next time President Obama speaks to or about our community, he must provide a concrete blueprint for his leadership and action moving forward — this includes his willingness to stop the discharges happening on his watch until Congress can fulfill its responsibility to overturn the law. The time for broad statements is over. The time to get down to business is overdue. We wish we had heard him speak of concrete steps tonight.
We appreciate President Obama reiterating his commitment to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, but words do not end discrimination – actions do,” said Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors. “We call on President Obama to immediately cease discharging openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender service members and to take a stand for equality in the military. Thousands of LGBT service members have bravely served our nation, and they deserve the same protections as all Americans. We urge President Obama and Congress to act swiftly to overturn this discriminatory policy.
New York Citizen-Journalist and blogger Joe Jervis on his Joe.My.God. website reports that opposition to repeal of DADT ranged from this from Family Research Council president Tony Perkins,
"Last night in his State of the Union Address, President Obama repeated his call for Congress to repeal the military eligibility law that was passed in 1993, and to allow homosexual conduct within the ranks of the armed forces. This would put our military in the strange position of actively recruiting personnel who have an expressed intention to violate the Uniform Code of Military Justice (which still prohibits certain forms of sexual conduct, including homosexuality). Forcing soldiers to cohabit with people who view them as sexual objects would inevitably lead to increased sexual tension, sexual harassment, and even sexual assault. America's military exists to fight and win wars --not to engage in radical social engineering."
To this from Arizona Senator John McCain;
"In his State of the Union address, President Obama asked Congress to repeal the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy. I am immensely proud of, and thankful for, every American who wears the uniform of our country, especially at a time of war, and I believe it would be a mistake to repeal the policy. “This successful policy has been in effect for over fifteen years, and it is well understood and predominantly supported by our military at all levels. We have the best trained, best equipped, and most professional force in the history of our country, and the men and women in uniform are performing heroically in two wars. At a time when our Armed Forces are fighting and sacrificing on the battlefield, now is not the time to abandon the policy."
This is going to prove to be an uphill battle for the administration despite the fact that numerous former high ranking members of the U. S. Defence Department have endorsed an end to the policy along with current Secretary Robert Gates.
However, disagreements could emerge when it comes to crafting the actual legislative language, over which Defence Secretary Robert Gates will wield his influence. And at this juncture, few of the offices working on the issue said they were willing to take passage as a fait accompli.
"People have said publicly and privately that this is a good place for repeal to be placed," said one Democratic aide on the Hill to the Huffington Post. "It would be reasonable to expect that repeal might be in this year's defense authorization... But we aren't assuming anything yet."
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