Obama: Gays Will Be Pleased By End Of My Administration

President Obama celebrated the anniversary of the Stonewall riots to at the White House Monday, and he used the opportunity to address some grumblings in the gay community.

"We seek an America in which no one feels the pain of discrimination based on who you are or who you love, and I know that many in this room don't believe that progress has come fast enough, and I understand that," he said. "It's not for me to tell you to be patient anymore than it was for others to counsel patience to African-Americans who were petitioning for equal rights a half century ago. But I say this: We have made progress, and we will make more. And I want you to know that I expect and hope to be judged not by words, not by promises that I made, but by promises that my administration keeps ... We've been in office six months now. I suspect that by the time this administration is over, I think you guys will have pretty good feelings about the Obama administration."

Obama added that he was working with the Pentagon, as well as Congress, to end "Don't Ask Don't Tell." He called this period a "transition" toward that end but said it had to be done pragmatically, so the new policy works in the long-term.

Many gay donors dropped out of a recent Democratic National Committee fundraiser in protest of the Obama administration's legal brief defending the anti-gay Defense Of Marriage Act. Gay rights advocates are also dismayed that the president has yet to take action on the military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy.

In an interview with MSNBC's Chuck Todd following Obama's remarks, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the president's promise to end "Don't Ask Don't Tell" would be fulfilled.

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Comments

[tman418]

You know, if there are people in the army who won't serve if they have to serve with openly gay people, I don't think gay people are the problem.

[caigoe]

Yes, I will be pleased by the end of the Obama administration; unless he stops supporting DOMA and takes affirmative steps to end the second class status of gays under federal law.

[mikey683]

I will never give money to the democratic party again.

[mergina]

In the end?

This is the end, my only friend

The end of our elaborate plans

The end of everything that stands

The end.

In the end?

What is that?

The end of days?

The end of Act Three?

When is that?

[DrToketee]

Keith Olbermann had it right tonight: "The President is God-damn wrong!"

[condew]

Obama really messed up on the DOMA brief. Go read WWW.AMERICABLOG.COM. Gays were a little impatient, but when that DOMA brief came out, written by a lawyer who is a Bush holdover, which equated being gay to pedophilia and incest, all hell broke loose.

Personally I wonder why there is a lawyer in the Obama justice department who is a Bush holdover.

Why was such inflammatory language about pedophilia and incest in the brief? The associations are neither legal arguments nor scientifically supported.

In any event, that brief turned most gays to the dark side; where they were strong supporters of Obama and the Democrats, they are now out to destroy them, defund them, deny them help on their campaigns. They are over emotional and stupid to do this; in the end they will have the Democrats despising them to the damage they do deliberately, and on the other hand the Republicans who already hate them and would stone them to death if they got the chance. In the middle are elections that often turn on less than 1%. Nobody is going to win on this.

[ez duz it]

We repeatedly read that President Obama cannot issue an Executive Order even ameliorating any of the effects of the reprehensible DADT legislation. That dong so is only under the purview of Congress.

How is it possible, then, that the Department of Defense “is considering how it might ease the “don't ask, don't tell” law requiring gays to keep quiet about their sexual identity or face expulsion from the military.”? (1)

Make no mistake. I am glad the DOD at least appears to be discussing the attenuation of its prosecution of the DADT law.

I am still extraordinarily disheartened and feel deeply betrayed that, despite the President’s declarations of support, his DOJ actually defended this odious law before the Supreme Court.

-----
(1) http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090630/pl_afp/usgaysmilitary_20090630174316

[ez duz it]

Oops: Sentence two should read "doing."

[We-Are-The-Ones]

I guess the DOD is not sure it can "ease" application of DADT, but is looking at options to avoid its harsh effects, especially when a service people is "outed" by a third person . . . when the person has not told and the military has not asked.

This shows how restrictive DADT is and how urgent it is to lobby Congress so that Congress can repeal it.

[JailNeoconVicts]

Obama could issue an order not to enforce this law. 78 congress people wrote him just that last week.

Why doesn't he? Because a huge component of his base are mostly liberal but right-wing religious on this issue, including a majority of blacks and Latinos (which is why Prop 8 passed in California).

[We-Are-The-Ones]

If these 77 Congress people had any courage, why didn't they just repeal DADT. In the time it took them to write that letter, they could have repealed DADT or at least sought a vote. They are cowards, wanting to hide behind the President.

And again, DADT is not a policy or an Executive Order. It is federal law. It cannot be ignored. It must be applied as long as it is the law.

PS: 70% of the US population believes that DADT should be repealed. There are no differences among Blacks and Hispanics.

[ez duz it]

I am still extraordinarily disheartened and feel deeply betrayed that, despite the President"s ostensible declarations of support for gays and lesbians serving in the military , his DOJ actually defended this odious law before the Supreme Court.

Especially, when he had the option not to do so.

[Marcospinelli]

Let's put one piece of misinformation to rest - That only Congress can eliminate DADT.

Not true.

Obama has the authority to eliminate it.

Under Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution of the United States, the President has authority as Commander-in-Chief to retain members of the armed forces serving under his command when essential to the national security of the United States. Under 10 U.S.C. § 123 (“Authority to Suspend Officer Personnel Laws During War or National Emergency”) and § 12305 (“Authority of President to Suspend Certain Laws Relating to Promotion, Retirement, and Separation”), Congress also has given the President authority to suspend any provision of law relating to the separation of any member of the armed forces who the President determines is essential to the national security of the United States, during any period of national emergency in which members of a reserve component are serving involuntarily on active duty.

Last month, a group of experts in military law concluded Obama can end DADT with the stroke of a pen:

http://www.palmcenter.org/files/active/0/Executive%20Order%20on%20Gay%20Troops%20-%20final.pdf

[DaveDeckard]

Like we used to say at the seminary, Frat Boys always get it in the end!

[SocialNote47]

That is sooo lame. Seems to me that you seminary boys get it in the end also.. The difference. We are truthful about it. And you do it and then get on your knees for round to. Oh! i mean your pray about it. Because you enjoyed it waaaaaaaaayyy to much... Now pray about that honey....

[enoughalready13]

I really believe Obama plans to address the inequalities in the gay community ... but I also think he is discovering that there is a reason why Congress can only handle a few issues at a time ... it is because Congress is essentially lazy, distracted, too concerned with fundraising, disorganized and generally useless. So I don't doubt he means what he says in that change will come, it just can't come as quickly as some would like. Hey, I would like to see immigration reform addressed asap but I know that will have to wait a while. I also know that the more crap we shove through Congress without proper debate and due dillengence, the worse crap will come out in the end. Garbage in = Garbage out.

[Scalawag]

Yeah, I think you are correct. I would like to see major reforms in our drug policy that I'm not seeing yet, but I realize that major change doesn't come easy. I think Obama is concentrating on the issues that affect the most people(the economy, health care, the environment, etc...) I know gays are treated like crap in this country, but every time I start feeling impatient I just remind myself of what the alternative to the Obama administration would be up to right now. And I don't think Hillary would be doing any better given the realities of the office. I don't worship Obama, but I still think he is the best we have had in a long, long time.

[lizr]

agree with all that you have said here.

[mydwyf]

Anybody who thinks the alternative would not be much worse,
should check out the Vanity Fair article about Sarah Palin.
My worst nightmare was that John's cancer would recur,
he would be 'overdosed' on chemo,
and Darth Cheney (who groomed Sarah for governor
and has mentored her for a long time from his undisclosed location)
would once again have a mouthpiece through which to rule the world.

[josephRoehl]

You see for all the talk about equality, it is absolutely EASY to set it in stone, but then it already has been, only the str8=h8 crowd first tried to keep it for white men only, then white men and white women, then nonwhite men and nonwhite women, then only heterosexuals with property (poll tax), then only heterosexual with or without property, and only towards the end of the corrupted democracy has it even occurred to any of these flamboyant propagandizing bigots that the first words of the Declaration of Independence was what Thomas Jefferson and George Washington INTENDED ALL ALONG.......All ... are created equal with certain unalienable (no one be it king or stooge or theocrat) RIGHTS, and all can pursue their own free life, own their own body, and love whomever they choose.......and it is those who've stolen our equal rights w/ lawyers and lobbyists and religio-fascists' dirty money, and now they want to tell us that it takes TIME to do what was OBVIOUS and RIGHT all along. Come on America, wake up, freeing our land from religious tyranny would have been intuitive to the first Americans. Sign a dozen Executive Orders today and let it be done. Equal rights NOW and true liberty and Freedom for each and every American adult citizen TODAY, and then tomorrow we can start reclaiming modernity for the FREE.

[KofTX]

"Come on America, wake up, freeing our land from religious tyranny would have been intuitive to the first Americans."

If that were true, it wouldn't have taken hundreds of years for African-Americans and women to obtain legislatively equal rights. I think the lesson should be persistance, patience and knowing who ones allies are.

[We-Are-The-Ones]

And there would have been not utter devastation of Native Americans, interment of Japanese, disenfranchisement of women, discrimination against Chinese and Chinese citizenship, etc.

Our whole history is built on discrimination against minorities. But much has been overcome. Much more to do.

[We-Are-The-Ones]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090630/pl_afp/usgaysmilitary_20090630174316

The Pentagon is considering how it might ease the "don't ask, don't tell" law requiring gays to keep quiet about their sexual identity or face expulsion from the military, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday.

"One of the things we're looking at is, is there flexibility in how we apply this law," Gates stated while admitting that the law is quite restrictive in what the military can do without a repeal.

[daltexman]

yawn...... in the words of Janet Jackson, what have you done for me lately?

[We-Are-The-Ones]

Ew.

You need to do yourself.

Ew.

[jmundstuk]

Well, in the end, we are all dead.

[Sepulchre]

It's not de.ath that matters really, it's what you do before it.

[mydwyf]

What if we don't really get dead ? Appearances can be deceiving.

[pene]

You don't have to be an american to serve in the U.S. military but american citizens can't serve if they are gay.

What's wrong with this picture?

[We-Are-The-Ones]

Americans who are gay can serve. They must comply with DADT, however.

DADT needs to be repealed. By Congress.

[Palemoon]

You just said, DADT allows them to serve if they comply with it. If there is no DADT, they wouldn't be allowed in the military at all. Remember, prior to DADT, nothing prevented the military from asking, or even assuming that someone was gay. Even the mere allegation was enough to put you back into civilian clothing.

[tanbo]

Just keep your mouth shut and you can join. No pun intended.

[MamacitaOfLove]

Why should anyone have to? Straights don't have to. Just sayin'.

[Awake-and-Sing]

Heterosexuality is in my face and rammed down my throat every day.

I don't ask straights to keep their orientation private.

[Palemoon]

President Obama is doing the same thing President Bush did on controversial issues. President Obama may as well had just said "I'll leave that to a future administration to decide." Because it's perfectly clear that is exactly what he is doing.

[We-Are-The-Ones]

He actually said the opposite. He lists work that has been done and things put into play. He is involving all interested parties to ensure implementation of a repeal of DADT. He stated:

"Now, my administration is already working with the Pentagon and members of the House and the Senate on how we'll go about ending this policy, which will require an act of Congress."

"We have made progress and we will make more. . . . We've been in office six months now. I suspect that by the time this administration is over, I think you guys will have pretty good feelings about the Obama administration."

[Palemoon]

You know, we're going on 20 years since the military side of things have been waiting for the "time to be right". We're over 30 years since the civilian/public side of things have been waiting for the "time to be right". Remember, even Reagan was running on platforms opposing gay rights, etc. The birth of the "family values" era, remember?

As far as African-American civil rights, that really only lasted about 13-18 years in total from the beginning of integration, marches, protests until all of the Civil Rights Acts were passed. I realize things for them actually went on much longer, but I'm talking about in the same active fashion of marches, attempts to integrate them equally, attempts to pass legislation, etc.

I guess what it's going to take is for a LGBT style Rosa Parks moment? The LGBT movement has been very active since the early 1990's at the very least. Actually much longer than that. So I think the time is right and the LGBT community should not have to wait a minute longer. The whole problem is the cowardice of politicians who don't want to have to take a stand on something. Afraid to lose their 2010 seats I suspect. Then they'll fear the 2012, 2014, etc, elections. It will never end.

[HappyRabbit]

For my money, when we get into a "do as I say, not as I do" situation like the DoJ memo on DOMA or this homily to GLBTs, is is, rightly, called hypocrisy. So far, President Obama has not shown forceful support for a real stimulus bill, DADT, DOMA, Wall St and banking re-regulation and even the climate/energy bill, etc. The watered down legislation that has resulted is an insult to progressive policy and his campaign promises. So far, he has been a tower of political pragmatism and that is not the change I voted for.

[iknowdou]

and torture photos and holding 'combatants' indefinitely w/ out trial and investigations of bush/cheney

[Sepulchre]

The odd thing is right now he is in the best position for pushing through actual progressive legislation than is likely to be the case later in his Presidency. There is not true need for him to be pragmatic on those issues.

[KofTX]

tHERE IS ALWAYS A NEED TO BE PRAGMATIC.