ACLU on President Obama's call to repeal DADT: "historic first"

[ProSense]

President Obama Calls For Repeal Of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Policy

January 28, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: [phone] or [e-mail]

WASHINGTON – During his State of the Union address Wednesday night, President Obama said he would work with Congress and the military this year to repeal the discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. The policy, passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton in 1993, states that openly lesbian and gay individuals pose "an unacceptable threat to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability" and prevents gay and lesbian individuals from serving openly in the military.

The following can be attributed to Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union:

"In an historic first, the nation finally has a commander in chief who is calling for all men and women serving our country in uniform to be treated fairly and with dignity. It is gratifying to hear President Obama call for the repeal of the un-American and discriminatory 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy. For the better part of two decades, lesbian and gay Americans have been denied the right to live their lives openly as they serve in their country's military. This policy is unacceptable in a country where we value the equal treatment of all Americans. A soldier's sexual orientation should never outweigh his or her record and performance. Congress must now act swiftly to repeal this shameful policy."

[dsc]

1. that is nothing short of historical revisionism

Clinton called for the exact, precise, same thing as CIC back in 93. He did get defeated on it but it is nothing short of a lie to say Obama is the first to call for this.

[ProSense]

2. Clinton signed DADT and DOMA

That was Clinton's solution. Questions?

[ProSense]

4. Here you go

In America; Clinton Caves In

By BOB HERBERT
Published: July 18, 1993

He didn't fight, he caved. The details are still to come but the betrayal is a done deal. President Clinton has O.K.'d the plan to keep the closet door closed on gays in the military.

Thus, another promise broken and another group of Clinton supporters deceived and disillusioned.

"He raised this issue as a matter of principle," said Thomas B. Stoddard, director of the Campaign for Military Service, which opposes the ban on homosexuals in the military. "You can't simply split the difference on matters of principle."

Not only does Bill Clinton think he can split the difference, he's apparently quite comfortable dispensing with principle altogether. In this case the President has signed off on an absurd policy that has been dubbed "don't ask, don't tell."

link

Clinton's solution was DADT.

[dsc]

6. It is pretty sad you can't read

The very words you put in that post state, exactly and precisely, what I said. One "He raised this issue as a matter of principle," said Thomas B. Stoddard, director of the Campaign for Military Service, which opposes the ban on homosexuals in the military. "You can't simply split the difference on matters of principle." Now those words clearly refer to Clinton raising the issue of gays serving, exactly and precisely what I stated he did.

Two Not only does Bill Clinton think he can split the difference, he's apparently quite comfortable dispensing with principle altogether. In this case the President has signed off on an absurd policy that has been dubbed "don't ask, don't tell."

Note the use of the word signed off on, not proposed, not suggest, not advocated for but signed off on. You sign off on others ideas.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

9. Pff, Clinton.

I'm reminded of that 70 minute review of The Phantom Menace.

The reviewer goes on at length about how the "battle droids" are a flaw in the film because they present no threat to the protagonists and thus no drama. Cut to a clip on the set of the movie with George Lucas bragging about the exact same point, and the reviewer simply replied in voice over "fuck you!"

[CTLawGuy]

22. oh come on Bob Herbert

Clinton only signed a sweeping federal law making gays second class citizens in the military...

it's not like he's a black gospel singer who claimed he was cured of homosexuality, or something REALLY BAD like that

:sarcasm:

[dsc]

5. Note I said he was defeated on it

but CLINTON CALLED FOR GAYS TO SERVE OPENLY IN THE ARMED SERVICES. I never said he affected that change, he didn't. BUT HE DID CALL FOR IT. That, and only that, is what your thread claimed Obama was first to do. If, and this is a big if, Obama succeeds in getting the policy changed he will be first to do that. But he can't be first to call for gays to serve without a time machine.

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. I agree - Clinton did call for it as well. I miss the old days of journalism,

when it was mostly just reporting the truth and doing some fact-checking about what is being said, and saying it without all the goddamn hyperbole.

[jenmito]

7. Got the transcript? TIA. n/t

[dsc]

8. I lived it dude. I know that some of you are too young but for people like me

we know what happened because we were there.

[ProSense]

10. President Obama is cleaning up Clinton's mess. n/t

[jenmito]

11. I didn't follow politics back then, girl. That's why I'm asking for the transcript. n/t

[dsc]

12. Here is a link I was able to find

http://www.glinn.com/news/tline5.htm

Military/Gay Timeline:1993, "January: President Clinton issues a Presidential Memorandum instructing Defense Secretary Les Aspin to develop by July of that year an `Executive Order ending discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in determining who will serve in the Armed Forces'. At the same time, Clinton issues an interim policy that preserves all existing restrictions on homosexuals in the military but ends the practice of questioning recruits about their sexual orientation.", "April, Secretary Aspin asks the Rand Corporation a nonprofit research organization to provide `information and analysis that would be useful in helping formulate the required draft executive order'. Aspin also forms a fifty member Defense Department Military Working Group to study the issue. Three weeks after its first meeting, the group recommends continuing the ban, with the sole change of instructing commanders not to ask soldiers or recruits about their sexual orientation.", "March-July: The Senate Armed Forces Committee, headed by Senator Sam Num holds public hearings to consider the ban.", "May-July: The House Armed Services Committee also conducts hearing. At both House and Senate hearings, the overwhelming majority of those testifying are service members opposed to lifting the ban.", "July: Secretary Aspin signs a directive adopting the April recommendation of the Military Working Group. One week later, the Senate and House Committees issue their `findings'. Both recommend codifying Aspin's directive.", "August: The Rand Corporation releases its independent report, stating that `there is ample reason to believe that heterosexual and homosexual military personnel can work together effectively'. The government buries the study.", "September: The House and Senate both pass legislation discouraging homosexual enlistment in the military, the language of which is tougher than Clinton's `don't ask, don't tell'. The legislation would allow a future defense secretary to reinstate questioning of recruits about their sexual orientation. Within days, Clinton signs the measure with no fanfare and little public notice."

[ProSense]

13. Wow.

Military/Gay Timeline:1993, "January: President Clinton issues a Presidential Memorandum instructing Defense Secretary Les Aspin to develop by July of that year an `Executive Order ending discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in determining who will serve in the Armed Forces'. At the same time, Clinton issues an interim policy that preserves all existing restrictions on homosexuals in the military but ends the practice of questioning recruits about their sexual orientation.", "April, Secretary Aspin asks the Rand Corporation a nonprofit research organization to provide `information and analysis that would be useful in helping formulate the required draft executive order'. Aspin also forms a fifty member Defense Department Military Working Group to study the issue. Three weeks after its first meeting, the group recommends continuing the ban, with the sole change of instructing commanders not to ask soldiers or recruits about their sexual orientation.", "March-July: The Senate Armed Forces Committee, headed by Senator Sam Num holds public hearings to consider the ban.", "May-July: The House Armed Services Committee also conducts hearing. At both House and Senate hearings, the overwhelming majority of those testifying are service members opposed to lifting the ban.", "July: Secretary Aspin signs a directive adopting the April recommendation of the Military Working Group. One week later, the Senate and House Committees issue their `findings'. Both recommend codifying Aspin's directive.", "August: The Rand Corporation releases its independent report, stating that `there is ample reason to believe that heterosexual and homosexual military personnel can work together effectively'. The government buries the study.", "September: The House and Senate both pass legislation discouraging homosexual enlistment in the military, the language of which is tougher than Clinton's `don't ask, don't tell'. The legislation would allow a future defense secretary to reinstate questioning of recruits about their sexual orientation. Within days, Clinton signs the measure with no fanfare and little public notice."

Now that's triangulation.

[dsc]

14. No it is the fact he was elected President, not king

He eroniously believed he could just let gays in, but he found out he couldn't. He then did what he could while trying to get Congress to agree with him, they didn't, so he compromised. Again, lets remember the point here. Clinton advocated that gays serve. He was first to do so, as President. There is no other way to interpret the words on that page.

[ProSense]

16. "He eroniously believed ..." What he did

was make the situation worse.

[struggle4progress]

20. Do you remember the nonstop screaming wingnut shitfits over this in 1993? Clinton had

promised during the 1992 campaign to end existing restrictions on gays in the military, and early in his administration he started to try to keep the promise. It should have been a complete ho-hum non-issue. Instead, the corporate media huff-n-puffed shrieking wingnut objections 24/7. Clinton got battered flat on it. DADT was the best he could get. Here BTW is what he thought he was doing:

President Clinton: 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' was not meant to sabotage gays' military careers
by Nick Langewis
... Clinton, who signed Don't Ask into law in 1993, says he and then-Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Colin Powell meant for the policy only to govern gay servicemembers while they were on duty or in uniform. Servicemembers, says Clinton, "would be free to live their lives; as long as they didn't go marching in gay rights parades or go to gay bars in uniform ... In uniform ... and talk about it on duty, they would be all right." According to Clinton, it was after Colin Powell left his post that Don't Ask became a tool to discriminate, and in many cases retaliate, against gay and lesbian servicemembers ... http://www.pageoneq.com/news/2008/President_Clinton_Dont_Ask_Dont_Tell_was_not_meant_to_sabotage_gays_militar_0119.html

[Cha]

15. Good for President Obama

calling for the Repeal of DADT in his SOTU..

"MOVING FORWARD ON DADT REPEAL"

"There were rumors that President Obama would address "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in the State of the Union address last night, and fortunately, the scuttlebutt was true.

"This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are," Obama said. "It's the right thing to do." When the president made the remark, cameras showed Defense Secretary Robert Gates standing and applauding, along with many Democratic lawmakers.

Marc Ambinder reports today that the president's directive wasn't just rhetoric -- the administration is already moving forward with a plan to implement the new policy.

Before President Obama announced last night that he would work with Congress and the Pentagon to end the military's ban on service by gays and lesbians, the White House consulted Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to sign off on the language he planned to use, administration officials said. They did. "The Pentagon is with us," the official said.

And Geoff Morell, Gates's spokesman, e-mails me to say that "The Department leadership is actively working on an implementation plan and will have more to say about it next week." So -- Obama's pledge to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell was more than words -- he's instructed the military to get it done as soon as Congress repeals the law.


The plan, as far as I can tell, is still to complete the change through an amendment to the Defense budget, not through a free-standing bill -- the same way policymakers approved expanded hate-crime protections last year.

What kind of opposition can we expect? It's probably too soon to say. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) issued a statement demanding that DADT stay in place, though, oddly enough, his statement didn't even try to explain why the policy is a good idea.

<more at Moving Forward on DADT Repeal>
—Steve Benen 4:25 PM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (14)
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/

[dsc]

17. you can have the last word

clearly for you words have a different meaning so I am done.

[Tailormyst]

23. just ignore them

there are a few in this thread that clearly do not give a shit about equal rights unless it is to promote their brand in some manner. They are not worth your time or energy.

[Cha]

18. Yeah, Good for the Prez! Bless his heart~

[Ildem09]

19. when was it decided that my equality can wait?

what makes me less equal than anyone else? just cause im gay??!?! bullshit... I support nothing less than full recognized equality. i propose until I and my people have full rights. we bring back poll taxes, literacy tests, while were at it lets ban the Irish from getting jobs and thow out some yellow stars. Equality for all now. or equality for none.

[DFLforever]

21. Obama was able to profit from Clinton's mistakes.

He didn't call for repeal until he knew he would be able to implement it.