Blogs Dec 22, 2010 at 9:02 am

Comments

1
Nice to hear you were invited, though otherwise occupied (after all, the stockrooms of San Francisco aren't going to photograph themselves).
2
Dan is largely correct about everything. But there is a sense in which "this was always the plan" that IS true: the part about doing it through a legislative process, with the support of the joint chiefs, study in hand, so it would be a permanent change.

The big failing of that plan was that it didn't account for the most obstructive abuse of the filibuster in history from the Republicans which stalled many things on the progressive wishlist.

But yes, there was plenty to complain about because that's how change happens. I still wish those complaints and worries had been expressed in ways that didn't seem like they'd been deliberately scripted to suppress LGBT turnout in the midterms, because that is going to make progress on ENDA and DOMA much much harder.
3
There's a lot of credit to be shared for today's victory, and many of them were on the stage behind the President.

Hopefully, the results of this long drawn-out process vindicates the President's slow-go strategy (on this and other issues, for that matter).

Instead of ramming it through with an Executive Order, we have military leaders who are bought into the change, a survey of military personnel that shows the extent of it being a non-issue, and vote in the U.S. Senate of 65-31 repealing the policy.

Borrowing a term of the past, we've had our "national conversation" on this issue, and we have our answer: One step closer to full equality.

And thank you, Mr. President, for getting it done.
4
From “The Writings of George Washington From The Original Manuscript Sources, 1745-1799”


“Head Quarters, V. Forge, Saturday, March 14, 1778: At a General Court Martial whereof Colo. Tupper was President (10th March 1778) Lieutt. Enslin of Colo. Malcom’s Regiment tried for attempting to commit sodomy, with John Monhort a soldier; Secondly, For Perjury in swearing to false Accounts, found guilty of the charges exhibited against him, being breaches of 5th. Article 18th. Section of the Articles of War and do sentence him to be dismiss’d the service with Infamy. His Excellency the Commander in Chief approves the sentence and with Abhorrence and Detestation of such Infamous Crimes orders Lieutt. Enslin to be drummed out of Camp tomorrow morning by all the Drummers and Fifers in the Army never to return; The Drummers and Fifers to attend on the Grand Parade at Guard mounting for that Purpose”



There but for the grace of God Almighty, my loved one heeded my warning and
waited to see if it was wise to reenlist for another tour of duty in service to this Nation. Personally it was a tough decision to make on Sunday, but we had to make it, and as such
ends what had the potential of being another round of extremely productive military service. It has been, but I know it couldv'e yielded so much more. Same with the soon to be adult in our house who was looking forward to follow in the same footsteps once out of school.

So sad. The President has allowed himself to be used in this way, by a small group of individuals who when all is said and done have no qualms in turning their back on him as we saw two weeks ago, and whose racism and antipathy towards black people is well documented. As a voter I'm watching a pattern of behavior exemplified by his signing of this into law that is making me reassess my support of him.

If all homosexuals are counting on to force their dictates upon the people are lame duck sessions and activst judges then they're very weak at best, and impositions like this one will be reversed once the people get their chance to exercise their democratic right thru their elected officials, not lame-duckers.

This wrong signed into law today will be righted and reversed in the future.
5
I'm still going to keep everything double crossed until the final step, until the fat lady sings!

Baby steps, and I'll glady take them.
6
Whether "this" was the plan or not, the fact that the policy is being changed with the approval of congress and support of SecDef and the Joint Chiefs is a very good thing for the long term. There are no executive orders or "judicial fiats" for opponents to complain about. They lost, and decisively. The debate is OVER.

(For a counter-example, see abortion.)
7
You can tell it's historic if it roused the LC-bot.
8
Dan, why the hell didn't you go? :)
9
@4: Glad to hear that this decision in favour of equality means that bigots have one less institution where they can hate with impunity.

Your world of intolerance and fear is getting smaller.
10
Dan: I respectfully challenge you to name a single Senator--or even House member--who changed his or her vote to YES because Dan Choi chained himself to the pro-repeal President's fence.

Name one.
11
@4
>and impositions like this one will be reversed once the people get their chance to exercise their democratic right thru their elected officials

>This wrong signed into law today will be righted and reversed in the future.

Keep telling yourself that LOL!
12
Just a reminder, everyone, the implementation was very difficult last time around. Compromises had to be made, and it was drawn out. But, you know, it worked.
13
For what it's worth, Dan, your fellow advice columnist Judith Martin says that the only time it's acceptable to cancel plans you've already made is when you've been invited to the White House.
14
LOL @4. You're quoting Washington? The same George Washington who owned slaves? Really?
15
"For we are not a nation that says, "don't ask, don't tell." We are a nation that says, "Out of many, we are one." We are a nation that welcomes the service of every patriot. We are a nation that believes that all men and women are created equal. Those are the ideals that generations have fought for. Those are the ideals that we uphold today."
President Barack Obama at the signing of the repeal of DADT.

So, LovesDouche, STFU, M'Kay? You are obviously a delusional peahead who wants to live in a time where people who were 'different' were shoved into a ghetto somewhere to be ignored. Your kind is a dying breed, and it can't happen soon enough!
16
I didn't go because... it meant two cross-country flights in the days right before Christmas. I made them promise me they'd invite me to the DOMA repeal signing ceremony in 2015.
17
SHE/HE/IT'S BAAAAAAAAACK...

There are days when I feel absolutely embarrassed to be an American, mainly because of the bone-headed, ignorant, fearful, bigoted actions of some of my fellow citizens.

Today is not one of those days.

We're a damned peculiar country, one that occasionally takes two steps back for every step forward, but today's signing is a definite and (one hopes) permanent stride toward a better tomorrow for all of us - even YOU, LC.
18
@16 hee hee!
19
One down, several to go.

Now everyone that's been working on this can focus their attention on ENDA. Marriage equality and the challenges to DOMA are working their way through the courts, and there's not much that's feasible legislatively there either. But ENDA is almost within reach, and could pass if the Democrats regain a majority in 2012 with ENDA as part of their mandate. If that's going to happen then, we have to start working now.
20
The whole process was messy and ugly and very very frustrating. At times I thought my head would explode. But it's done.

I will concede that Obama was correct. Overturning it by legislative action, rather than some sort of executive order, was the best way to kill DADT. With overwhelming public support in the polls, the support of the top military brass, the support of the military survey, and passage by significant margins in both the house and the senate, there is no way this will be undone. DADT is deader than dead. It will never be revived or reinstated by a future republican president or congress.

And it will go down better for the military too. They won't see it as something shoved down their throats by a liberal president by executive order or by some activist judge. They will see that it had broad support from every quarter, and they'll just have to get over it.
21
"There but for the grace of God Almighty, my loved one heeded my warning and
waited to see if it was wise to reenlist for another tour of duty in service to this Nation. "

Glad to see your devotion to your bigotry is more important than your devotion to our nation.
Also, back in George Washington's time, people, himself included, owned slaves. Blacks, Native Americans, women and white men who didn't own land couldn't vote. In some areas, Catholics and Jews couldn't vote either.

So if you're saying that things were better there, and clearly, they had the right idea, I'm perfectly fine with taking away your right to vote....and maybe your indoor plumbing. They didnt have that either you know. Maybe then the rest of us can live in peace.

Also....Nah nah nah nah nah nah! Guess your loved one will have to find a new job.

(sorry, i couldnt help myself)
22
See, that wasn't so hard, was it now.
23
@16 - Yes, I suppose it's also worth noting that Judith Martin lives and works in Washington, DC, so it's easy enough for her to skip her lunch plans to stop by for a chat with the president.
24
i think it’s time for progressive/liberal Obama haters to sit back and think about what else happened along side the repeal of DADT and the upcoming SALT treaty ratification. Obama has forced many Republican leaders to be publicly rebuked by OTHER REPUBLICANS! John McCain has shone brightly as not only a bigot and a homophobe but also as someone who will go to the great lengths and mental contortions to be on the opposite side of Obama. On START Mitch McConnell has a number of Republicans voting against him to ratify START .. Obama has played his hands brilliantly. We elected him because we knew he is smarter than the average bear. We just need to give him the time to accomplish things way he needs to, because ultimately it’s better for Congress to be on his side and that involves coercing a few Republicans and that takes both time and finesse.
25
@ 24, we could have had some smarter plays earlier in his administration, and possibly retained control of the House and a few governors' mansions that flipped.

Give credit where it's due, but let's not overdo it.
26
@16 that's some family values right there. Merry Christmas, Dan!
27
@25

I hate Obama because the wine that he made from water at my party was a Merlot, and everyone knows that Merlot is passe. I also think he is a failure because when he was walking across that lake, he actually left footprints, which was disappointing. Finally, I am ashamed of him because although he cured my leprosy, I still have some scars (and my left ear has not grown back).

Get a fucking grip.
28
Nice article. Had the same snarky thought as gus @1 ;-). I guess we'll forgive you from declining a TSA-enhanced country crisscross this time of year.

Wondering whether ENDA or DOMA is next, actually. I can't quite work out which one the DADT repeal will bump up against first -- will DOMA get chipped away by trying to equalise spousal benefits, or will ENDA get a boost from the military approaching certification with nondiscrimination in mind?

29
So DADT isn't actually history at all.
30
What @26 said...

Not that it's any of our business, but I sincerely hope you and your lovely husband are enjoying some well-deserved down time (totally no pun intended) between the crazy-busy last few months and the holidays. You and your work is much appreciated, despite all the joking here, as I'm sure you know.
31
@4, how is nearly 3/4 of this nation " a small group of individuals" ? ..."Whose racism and antipathy toward black people is well documented"... There are no gay or lesbian people of color? #trollfail.
32
@4: Yep, you lost.

A large majority of Amercans supported repeal. Nearly 2/3rds of the Senate voted to approve repeal. If it were voted on outside of the lame duck, it still would have been repealed as even Senator Pat Toomey supports repeal.

So glad that you hide behind majority opinion unless it is against you. "a majority of americans oppose gay marriage," you crow. But when a majority support repeal? You don't care about the will of the people, just your own selfish need to feel better than.

Baaaaaaawwwwwwwwwww
33
@ 27, why was that directed at me?
34
I love it when people say 'activist judges' like the judge is wearing a bandanna covering their face and holding up a sharpied signs in the courtroom...especially since it comes from the Christian Taliban, who would like to see us living in The Handmaid's Tale universe. Well TOO BAD, because the rest of us want to live in the Star Wars universe, but we can't always get what we want.

I hope santa brings you some aerodynamic stoning rocks, LC. kiss kiss.
35
Have A Very Merry Happy Holiday Dan, Terry, D.J. and Stinker.

Dan, thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you do for the LGBT community. But thank you especially for the IGBP. We will probably never know how many lives were saved and how many others were given the strength to hold on just one more day. The IGBP will be around to help many future generations to come. That's PRICELESS!

To everyone else, SLOGgees, SLOGgers, family and friends alike, my wish for all of you: peace of mind, prosperity to last throughout the year, happiness that multiplies, health for you and yours, fun around every corner, energy to chase your dreams and joy to fill your days.

Muwah! xoxoxox
36
When openly gay war heroes start getting medals,
& openly gay generals start serving as Secretaries of Defense,
it will become almost impossible for the right to continue its' homophobic agenda.
That's the real reason why this is a historic change.
37
@10: Senators' votes are the end game of a long process in which public attention and support are arguably as important as the actual votes. Choi's role was probably to get headlines, not to change votes.
38
Muwah to you, too, despicable me! Happy Yule!
39
The lesson of the great shellacking is the same as the lesson I have gleaned from pvp in WoW: You must press your advantage while you have it if you want to win. Obama squandered his advantage, and this is probably the last important achievement his administration will manage.
40
Also, I love how delusional Loveschild is. This will never be reversed. Gay people are harmless, DADT repeal will soon prove that to the military, and the weak ones are the bigots like Loveschild who haven't got a factual leg to stand on. Support for Gay Rights in general is rapidly increasing, and there is no way the trend will reverse. Enjoy your delusions, bigots, for within two decades people will curl their lips in disgust at you, politicians will see no downside in bashing you, and you will be reduced to the sorriest of fringe groups.
41
An example of human injustice crumbles, and a beautiful thing it is. I'm humbled to have had a wee and insignificant part.

And, it wouldn't be a human moment on Slog without someone proving that one can consider them self moral ( by conforming to the cherry-picked laws and accepted principles of their faith) and unethical ( willingness to deny others equal rights and to oppress others, while demanding that one's self not be oppressed and be given equal rights). And, someone else proving that one can act ethically and be considered immoral, and actually further the cause of justice. It is only my opinion, but I think that those that walk the walk and better this world to be the more honorable of the two.
42
LC just hatin cos she knows we're all descending into an immoral cesspool....a.k.a. a just society
43
OH just realized a benefit of the repeal of DADT...bigots like LC's husband dropping out of the army! Less bigots in the army is good, right? WOO WOO!
44
@27 FTW, and poignantly so. But, let me digress...

I must reluctantly admit that I am one of those cynics who has been impatient and questioning of Obama's ability and willingness to knock heads and get shit done, as well as furious at Democrats in general for letting themselves get completely pwned by the Tea/Fox/Republican tactic/strategy/propaganda machine.

But it's clear, shit did get done. I just wish the plutocrat/theocrat/fear/hate right wing machine was done, too -- preferably well done with a fork in it. The suspicion will remain that Obama could have somehow done more to make that happen, to rally the country to support better days, better principles, and actions to achieve those.

The slime live on, though (just look at LC if you need a minor example), and the major media seems all too happy to give them all the oxygen they need. The next two years are going to be very hard. The Republicans want the White House back, and they'd happily and immorally do anything, including drive the country into bankruptcy, national follies (e.g. wars), widespread poverty, further division, and/or civil unrest to achieve it.
45
For once I disagree with Dan. Obviously, I think the administration had more than one plan in place to repeal DADT, but this was certainly one of those plans.

As I see it, the steps in their plan to pass the repeal went as follows:

1. Obtain support from the military brass for the repeal. This required commissioning the pentagon study and agreeing not to suspend DADT by Executive Order until the findings of the study were released.

2. Schedule the study so that the findings were released during the lame duck session of congress. The benefits of this seem obvious to me, but not to Dan. My personal opinion is that if they had scheduled this vote in October, all the Dem senators from conservative states and Repub senators from liberal states would have had emergency root canals at the time of the vote. No politician wants to go on record regarding a controversial topic during an election cycle.

If you look at the process up close, it looked messy. But if you take a step back, you can see how the plan unfolded rather brilliantly. And let's be honest: this repeal passed by the skin of its teeth. And that was with Obama commissioning the study, waiting for the results, not overturning DADT by executive order, getting the support of most of the military brass and waiting until after the election to hold the vote. If any of these things had been different, I just don't see the bill passing.

Chaining yourself to a fence in protest is great. Continuing to passionately advocate for your cause is great. But the hyperbole and vitriol went a little overboard. It's one thing to tirelessly demand action. It's another to call Obama a traitor and a liar and a bigot instead of giving him a chance to do what he said he was going to do. He said that DADT would be repealed by the end of 2010. He kept that promise. And the whining of Dan and others like him did had nothing to do with the end result. I think they could have focused all of that passion and anger into something more productive.
46
@4 I see you and the rest of the bigots are having a gay old time posting that Enslin court-martial item all around the 'net.

Oddly, you do not detail any punishment for John Monhort, a soldier. Without that, the number of members of Washington's immediate staff with contemporary documentation noting homosexual acts or language suggestive of such, it is more reasonable to conclude that the infamous crimes worthy of abhorrence and detestation are perjury and fraternization.
47
1) Man, it took you long enough to get around to posting this.

2) You were invited to a signing ceremony, on an issue you care about, and didn't go? W to the T to the F?
48
@LC - Cry us a river, you insane twit.

Hope your newly unemployed husband (and your kid, as well) enjoy the unemployment line. Or, maybe you'll get lucky and they'll be asking me if I'd like my order "super-sized" the next time I'm getting a burger at McDonalds.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
49
Dan,

+1 to what mshawn said.

I totally sympathize with everyone who was afraid the DADT repeal would not happen. Seriously. I can understand why you lost patience at times, succumbed to despair, ranted and raved. But none of you are mind/heart/soul readers. You don't *know* what Obama's "true" feelings and motivations were, okay? And, try as you might, you CANNOT predict with certainty all of the "what if" and "if only Obama would have" political scenarios you hold dear.

"...anyone who argues that there was nothing to complain or chain-yourself-to-a-fence about because this was the plan all along—to pass the DADT repeal in a lame-duck session, at the last possible moment, with soldiers being discharged at the rate of two a day on Obama's watch, with successful lawsuits were bearing down on the administration and the Pentagon, with Obama's DOJ aggressively defending DADT at every step, and to seriously alienate gay and lesbian voters (and donors) in the run-up to the mid-term elections—shouldn't be taken seriously."

Cripes, man. Really? You *gotta* know that MOST of your fellow progressives understand that there's *plenty* to complain about! This process was horribly unjust and maddeningly slow, especially for guys like Dan Choi. But Obama didn't create those conditions, he just had to work within their constraints.

So even though I understand and sympathize with you for going overboard with your criticism and accusations during recent months, I'm not buying your justifications for it. If part of your goal with this post was to be gracious, you're falling short. It would've been much better WITHOUT that stuff.

Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.