President signs bill to repeal ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’
Click here to watch video of Obama’s speech
Click here for more reactions
Related story: Military will write rules on repeal of ban
Lisa Keen | Keen News Service
Following a dramatic and eloquent speech, President Barack Obama on Wednesday morning, Dec. 22 signed the legislation that will launch the repeal of a 17-year-old law that prohibits openly gay people from serving in the military.
“This is done,” he said, looking up and slapping his hand on the table, and the crowded auditorium of an Interior Department building in Washington, D.C., erupted with cheers and applause.
The historic ceremony took place less than 24 hours after Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell took an 11th-hour action of trying to make implementation of repeal much more difficult and time-consuming.
According to a report on Politico.com, McConnell tried to introduce an amendment to the annual defense authorization bill that would have required that implementation of DADT repeal not take place until after the four service chiefs certify that it could be done without negative consequences for military readiness. The DADT repeal legislation that passed last week requires certification only by the president, the secretary of defense, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
According to Politico, McConnell attempted to add the amendment by unanimous consent, but Senator Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., a champion of the repeal measure, objected. Lieberman’s objection effectively blocked the amendment from being considered.
The president was greeted with a roar of cheers and applause after he was introduced by Vice President Joe Biden at 9:13 a.m. Eastern time Wednesday. As the president greeted many special guests on stage with him, the crowded began to chant, “Yes, we can,” a prominent slogan of Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. When the president reached the podium, he smiled and called back, “Yes, we did.”
“I am just overwhelmed,” said President Obama, beginning his prepared remarks. “This is a very good day, and I want to thank all of you, especially the people on this stage.”
He then told a story about a soldier who fought in the Battle of the Bulge in the Belgian mountains against the Germans in World War II. The soldier, Andy Lee, who put his own life in peril in order to scale a ravine and rescue a fellow soldier, Lloyd Corwin. Forty years later, Lee let Corwin know he was gay.
“He had no idea,” said President Obama of Corwin, “and didn’t much care. Lloyd knew what mattered. He knew what kept him alive.”
Obama also told the story of a young female servicemember who gave him a hug on a receiving line in Afghanistan several weeks ago, when the president made a visit to the troops. The woman whispered in his ear, “’Get ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ done,’” said the president. “And I said to her, ‘I promise you I will.’”
With the signing of the bill today, President Obama has also fulfilled a long-standing promise to the LGBT community overall, a feat that is prompting widespread praise, even from gay Republicans.
“He made this a priority,” said R. Clarke Cooper, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans group, who a front row seat during Wednesday’s ceremony. “He was sincere and correct about making this a priority.”
As Obama shook hands with guests on the front row, Cooper said he told the president, “You said get me those [Republican] votes and I got more than you needed.”
In a critical procedural vote to force the repeal measure to the floor in the Senate on Saturday, six Republicans joined Democrats and Independents to provide more than the 60 votes necessary to break the Republican-led filibuster.
Cooper said the ceremony was a “very emotional” one in the auditorium and that “there were definitely many tears of joy” in his eyes and in the eyes of other former servicemembers discharged under the DADT policy during the past 17 years.
The president acknowledged the tenacious work of numerous individuals during Wednesday’s ceremony, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Republican Sen. Susan Collins, and the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Patrick Murphy.
NBC News Washington Bureau Chief Mark Whitaker, speaking on MSNBC shortly before the ceremony, said it was House Majority Whip Hoyer whose idea it was to take DADT repeal language out of the annual defense authorization bill — which was being filibustered by McConnell, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and most Republicans — and put it into a special standalone bill in the House last week.
The House passed that bill on Dec. 15 on a 250-175 vote and sent it immediately to the Senate, which approved it Dec. 18 on a 65 to 31 vote.
The president also singled out Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., in the front of the auditorium, for having “kept up the fight” in the House.
Speaking to MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell Tuesday night, Frank characterized the congressional vote to repeal DADT as being “comparable to the 1964 Civil Rights Act.”
“It is an enormous move forward,” said Frank. Frank said he was moved by a special ceremony held on Capitol Hill on Tuesday by House Speaker Pelosi and Majority Whip Hoyer to sign the enrollment document for the bill to be sent to the president. The hundreds of people in attendance saying “God Bless America.”
“It was a very moving moment,” said Frank.
Also on stage for Wednesday’s ceremony was Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen and Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, an openly gay Marine from San Antonio who was the first servicemember wounded in the Iraq War.
The president used 15 pens to sign the legislation into law. It was not immediately known to whom those pens will be given.
Copyright ©2010 Keen News Service. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Christian Military Chaplains are now put in a dilema. Do they continue to preach, teach and share the entire Bible? Or do they compromise where the Bible talks about the historical events recorded in Genesis chapter 19? Stay tuned. We will see what happens.
What do Christian military chaplains do? They do their job and act as chaplains to every military person. Those who cannot do their jobs do not belong in the military.
Dear David Taffet, This is the job of an Army Chaplain: “As an Army chaplain you will have the responsibility of caring for the spiritual well-being of Soldiers and their Families”. (from the website goarmy.com) And what do Christian Army Chaplains have as the basic Book for teaching how to go about caring for the spiritual well-being of Soldiers and their Families? The Bible. And what does the Bible say about LGBT people? My song/video on youtube.com titled, “Messiah loves homosexuals” tells a Bible story of what happened to two cities that were gay. I invite you, David or anyone else, to please research it to see if the song/video is accurate to the Word of God. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard Chaplains that research this song/video are either going to disregard its message or share it with others and use it to challenge the DADT repeal. Stay tuned.
Let me say this with care and respect, Kenny. Bullshit.
My rabbi has served Christians and to do so effectively he learned to say rosary with Catholics. What about troops who are Muslim and those who are Jewish? A chaplain needs to serve all troops and those who cannot should not be serving at all. Your answer, by the way, I find offensive as anti-Semitic, not as anti-gay. But bigots are bigots. They hate gays. They hate Jews. They hate, hate, hate. All hate is the same.
Dear David Taffet, With all do respect, sir, first of all I appreciate your sincere answer. Yes, the Holocaust happened and many Jews died. Yes, Nebuchadnezzar II invaded Jerusalem and many Jews died or were taken into captivity. Jews have received way more than their share of hatred. I am a Jew (Romans 2:29) . I invite you to ask your Rabbi to research the following statement. “Genesis chapter 19 is in the Torah and is part of the Word of God”. If so, then that chapter applies to troops that are Jewish. What about Muslim troops? “The Torah… is also accepted by Muslims as the Divine book, although they think it is modified after the death of Moses.” (Wikipedia). Research, David, research please with the help of your Rabbi if needed. The Messiah loves you and so do I.
First, stop with the fake “I love you” crap. Nice of you acknowledge the Holocaust. So many of you anti-Semites are now Holocaust deniers. And yes, your comments are anti-Semitic, anti-Jewish crap.
What your comments have to do with the U.S. military, I have no idea. A chaplain needs to be able to serve all members of the military, period. On a large base, they have the luxury of having chaplains of many faiths. There, they have the luxury of matching soldiers with chaplains of their faith. In battle, however, there isn’t that luxury. Chaplains of all faiths need to be prepared to work with soldiers of all faiths and all sexual orientations.
If a bigoted chaplain — and I’m not accusing our military chaplains of being bigots, you are by saying they can’t work with gay and lesbian soldiers — were to condemn a wounded gay soldier to hell, that chaplain should be court martialed.
David Taffet, Research. Chaplains do not condemn a wounded gay soldier to hell. Christian Chaplains share the Bible with military men and women. . It is the Bible that tells what God will do with us after we die. Chaplains have no authority over anyone after they die. Now, back to my research assignment. Did you research to see if Genesis chapter 19 is in the Torah? Do Jews, like yourself, and Rabbis consider the Book of Genesis the Word of God? Let us start by answering my question honestly. Ask your Rabbi if Genesis is the Word of God. Research and come back with an honest answer, Ask your Rabbi if the Torah is “anti-Semitic”, please.
The wonderful thing about the Bible is that there are so many interpretations. Us loud-mouth, left-wing Jews (who wrote the damn thing) would just say that your interpretation is wrong.
OK, so let’s talk “Judeo-Christian.” In Judaism we accept same-sex marriage. Israel recognizes same-sex couples who have been married anywhere that performs such ceremonies as married. So much for “Judeo-Chrisitan” since your brand of Christianity doesn’t. And, by the way, Israel doesn’t just allow its gay and lesbian AND TRANSGENDER citizens to serve. Israel insists on it.
Genesis Chapter 19 has nothing to do with the U.S. military. In the United States, we are governed by the Constitution, not the Bible. Chaplains in the U.S. military are serving the United States not your religion. My point, and my only point that started this pointless conversation — as every conversation with you is — is that any chaplain who cannot serve every soldier without condemning them to hell does not belong in the U.S. military. And you know what? That’s OK. Not every minister, rabbi, priest, imam or whatever really should be in the military. It takes someone special. Someone who can work with everyone and understands that their job is to minister to that soldier’s need, not convert them. And are those chaplains going to like some soldiers more and relate to some more than others? Sure. That’s human nature.
Research, David Taffet. Genesis chapter 19 and the US Military. First of all we need to pass muster with your Rabbi or Rabbanim. Ask him or them if the Torah (the Five Books of Moses) is the Word of God? Then be more specific. Ask the Rabbanim if Genesis is the Word of God. Once we get this taken care of then we can be on common ground. Without a positve answer to this question from the Rabbanim our conversation gets a dead end.
Sincerely in the Messiah, Kenny Merriken
David Taffet, Let us start with Abraham, father of Isaac. Ask your Rabbanim if he was a real person and ask the Rabbanim if the Torah tells us the truth about Abraham and what he witnessed. Then we can discuss the smoke he witnessed in Genesis 19:28.
Sure, we can talk about it, but it has nothing to do with chaplains in the military who refuse to obey orders. Some people belong in the military. Others don’t. Chaplains who cannot serve all soldiers shouldn’t be there.
And, by the way, Genesis Chapter 19, by Jewish interpretation (and we wrote it, so I’ll go by our interpretation) is the story of the sin of inhospitality. Not welcoming people to your home is a sin. Welcoming them into your church and then preaching that they are wrong is a sin.
So the hatred you’re spewing toward Jews and toward gays under the very story you misquote is considered a sin. And considered a bigger sin than homosexuality ever would be considered because your hatred (and don’t tell me you love me, because your “love” kills people) is directed at other people. Sorry, but that’s the Jewish interpretation and a pretty consistent Jewish interpretation from Orthodox to Reform.
The person behind the profile name Merriken speaks only for him or herself. He does not speak for me, all Christians, people of faith, and God.
Dear Comment, I am the person behind the youtube.com video titled, “Messiah loves homosexuals”. I wrote the song and put it on youtube.com. It is based on several Bible passages. As a fellow Christian, I ask you some questions. Are the 66 Books of the Bible the Word of God? How do you interpret Jude 1:7? What does it say? Research, please, my song on youtube and see if it is accurate to scripture. If not throw it away, if it is then share it with others. Acts 17:11. Show me where it does not line up with the Bible. KM
Comment, of course he doesn’t speak for Christians. His ignorance and bigotry are his own. When confronted with responses that he cannot answer, he refers to some stupid youtube video he made. Because we all know, if it’s on youtube, it must be holy. I just keep answering because I enjoy banging my head against the wall. And apparently, many of our regular commenters are just sitting back on this one enjoying me turn blue in the face.
David Taffet, you are a very intellegent person. I can tell from you comments. And you are right. The Rabbanim do interpret the word ידע or yada` (‘know’, KJV Bible) as sin of inhospitality. I looked it up. It is also used in Genesis 19:5. In Genesis 4:1. Adam ידע
Eve and she conceived. Stay tuned, David, I will get back with you.