By: Chuck Colbert /TRT Reporter
For the second year in row, President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech raised the issue of gays in the military. Last year, he urged Congress to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” ban on openly gay service. This time, the president said he wanted the change in policy to be implemented by the end of 2011.
Addressing a joint session of Congress, he said, “Our troops come from every corner of this country – they are black, white, Latino, Asian and Native American. They are Christian and Hindu, Jewish and Muslim. And, yes, we know that some of them are gay. Starting this year, no American will be forbidden from serving the country they love because of who they love.”
He added, “I call on all of our college campuses to open their doors to our military recruiters and the ROTC. It is time to leave the divisive battles of the past. It is time to move forward as one nation.”
President Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, Jan. 25, came a month after Congress repealed “don’t ask, don’t tell.” But the new law, signed by the president on December 22, does not take effect until the Pentagon establishes — and the president, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), and the defense secretary certify — that regulations and procedures to ensure openly gay service will not undermine military readiness, unit cohesion, combat effectiveness, morale and retention.
The president’s speech also came on the heels of the January 8 shooting in Tuscon of Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords. Daniel Hernandez, Jr., a gay man and intern in the congresswoman’s district office, attended the State of the Union event as an invited guest of First Lady Michelle Obama and stood in the House visitors’ gallery.
Immediately after she was shot, Hernandez provided Giffords with critical life-saving first aid and has emerged as a hero in the wake of a national tragedy.
Mr. Obama’s mention of “don’t ask, don’t tell” was the only LGBT-specific remark in an hour-long speech that was largely thematic and focused on economic recovery, what the president referred to as “winning the future.”
Activists and leaders of national and local LGBT organizations welcomed and were pleased with Mr. Obama’s comment about “don’t ask, don’t tell,” And yet there were calls for him to do more, as well as some criticism.
“Having worked so hard to secure Scott Brown’s critical vote in support of repealing ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ Mass Equality was pleased to hear the president make history again by saying what no other president has been able or willing to say —- that the state of our union is stronger because ‘don’t, ask don’t tell’ has been repealed,” said Kara Sufrendini, executive director of Boston-based Mass Equality.
Paul Sousa, a Boston College law student and founder of Join the Impact-Massachusetts, a local grassroots, direct-action group, said the Sate of the Union speech was “classic Obama in style,” and “ubiquitous in its encompassing inspiration.”
He added, “As an American, I feel confident in President Obama’s abilities to guide America to overcome our timely struggles, most especially the recent economic downturn.”
And yet “As a gay American, I’m still desperately waiting for the president to be the leader that I know he can be and embrace the civil rights issue of my generation — marriage equality,” he said. “Hopefully his evolution in position will occur sometime before 2012.”
National leadership voiced praise but pressed the president further .
“Tonight is the culmination of a promise kept by the president,” said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, in a press release. “There remain a number of pressing issues for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community when it comes to economic security,” he explained, namely “ending the unfair taxation of partner health benefits, prohibiting workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, and ensuring that all married couples have access to the same federal benefits and protections for their families.”
In a written statement, Aurbrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a prime mover in the repeal effort, said the organization “is pleased the president expects that gays and lesbians will be able to serve their country openly this year,” adding, “In fact, we think there should be certification from the president, Secretary Robert Gates, and JCS Chairman Michael Mullen in this quarter. We need to make don’t ask repeal a reality sooner rather than later.”
But Robin McGehee, director of the direct-action group GetEQUAL, voiced dismay. “Tonight, President Obama missed an opportunity to lay out an agenda and strategy that continues progress made toward LGBT equality — removing the burden of being second class citizens and acknowledging our families,” she said in a statement.
Brad Reichard, a Bostonian living in Washington, DC, offered this perspective: “The president’s appeal to ROTC’s was evidence that the LGBT community is a part of this vision for a less divided America.”
