When Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama gave his first general interview to a gay publication last year, repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" was the first thing he identified as something he "reasonably" could expect to do as president.
That was in April 2008.
Now, after a month in office, President Obama's commitment to repealing "don't ask, don't tell" is being couched in different terms. He now says it wants to "study" the policy's implications for national security and build more support for repeal in Congress.
U.S. Rep. Ellen Tauscher ( D-Calif. ) is not waiting for another study. She reintroduced her bill today to seek repeal of the policy, despite saying herself, just a few days ago, that the current wars and economic woes could delay the matter.
President Obama has not said anything publicly since taking office about his plans to repeal the law, but his press secretary, Robert Gibbs, made clear even before the inauguration that repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" is a "yes," not a maybe.
A week later, Obama met with his Joint Chiefs of Staff ( on January 29 ) and the New York Times reported that "Pentagon officials" were relieved, based on that meeting, that President Obama was moving slowly on his promise to repeal "don't ask, don't tell." The paper quoted an Obama aide, Denis McDonough, as saying, "It's not in our interest and it's not the style of this president" to move quickly on repeal. Two days later, the Times affiliate Boston Globe reported that "people involved in the discussions" said the president wants a comprehensive assessment of what impact repeal of the policy would have on the military.
The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network �which helps advocate for gay military personnel— doesn't want another study.
"Study," said SLDN Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis, in a blog on SLDN.org, "is Washington-speak for saying, 'let's just kick this down the road a ways.'" Sarvis said there have already been studies of the issue, beginning in 1988. Sarvis said SLDN is "strongly opposed" to "yet another study" of the military's policy concerning gays.
What's confusing to some is that Taucher ( D-Calif. ) , chief sponsor of legislation in the last session, told National Public Radio just last week that, while it's "always the right time to right a wrong," immediate attention to repealing the military's discriminatory policy is difficult "while we're triaging" an economy in which "people are losing their homes and their jobs." U.S. Senator Carl Levin ( D-Mich. ) , a chief supporter of repeal in the Senate, told NPR, "I just don't think we can give that a high priority, given the situation that we face."
The question now is how quickly will Tauscher try to kick the ball down the field and how much help will she get from the administration. A spokesperson for her office did not return a call by deadline time.
In his interview last April with The Advocate news editor Kerry Eleveld, Obama said he would "never make" elimination of "don't ask, don't tell" a litmus test for his Joint Chiefs of Staff.
" [ W ] e're spending large sums of money to kick highly qualified gays or lesbians out of our military, some of whom possess specialities like Arab-language capabilities that we desperately need," said Obama. "That doesn't make us more safe, and what I want are members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who are making decisions based on what strengthens our military and what is going to make us safe not ideology."
Meanwhile, at the State Department, Secretary Hillary Clinton said she has asked her staff to study the department's policy concerning the same-sex partners and spouses of employees. The department's current policy states emphatically: "Under the definitions outlined in the Defense of Marriage Act, domestic partners are not entitled to the same federal benefits as "spouses" of employees. Federal government benefits, such as health insurance and pension benefits, provided to spouses, as defined in the Defense of Marriage Act, are not available to domestic partners."
� 2009 Keen News Service
