For the third time in recent weeks, activists opposed to the military's ban on openly gay service handcuffed themselves to the wrought iron fence surrounding the White House. But this time it was not gay veterans who took their case to the president. Rather, these protestors were six plain-clothed civilians from Get Equal, a new grassroots Internet-based group.
Like they handled previous and similar White House protests before, U. S. Park Police arrested the six people identified as Ann Tischer, Nora Camp, Alan Bounville, Natasha Dillon, Eiona DiBona, and Mark Reed.
Meanwhile, across the street at Lafayette Park, former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean, a former Vermont governor and former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, addressed a protest rally attended by more than 150 people, according to estimates by local national LGBT media.
The former DNC chairman told Metro Weekly, a DC based LGBT publication, that he had not initially planed to attend the rally, but supported repeal efforts. ''It's a cause I think is really important. I think equality under the law can't be abridged under any circumstances,'' the former Vermont governor told the attendees. ''Gay and lesbian Americans have given their lives for this country, and they should be able to say who they are proudly, and I think it will make the armed forces stronger, not weaker.''
Sunday's noon protest came in response to signals from the Pentagon — with apparent White House approval — that repeal of "don't ask, don't tell," at least for this year, is on hold pending completion of the Pentagon's working group. The study was established by Defense Secretary Robert Gates in February and has until December 1 to complete a review of how not if to end the 17-year old policy and federal law that has resulted in the discharge of nearly 14,000 service members.
The civil disobedience and rally also came on the heels of correspondence leaked late Friday afternoon to mainstream media, a letter from Defense Secretary Robert Gates to Missouri U. S. Representative Ike Skelton, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Gates' letter was a reply to Skelton who sought out the military's view of congressional repeal legislation taken before completion of the Pentagon's review.
For some time now, gay rights activists have been pressing the president to include repeal language in the 2011 Defense Authorization Act and to issue a "stop/loss" order to effect a moratorium on gay-related service discharges. California Democrat and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has also called for a suspension of the enforcement of "don't ask, don't tell" while the study proceeds.
But Secretary Gates' letter, obtained by the Associated Press late Friday afternoon, warned that legislative repeal prior to the completion of the working group's study "would send a very damaging message to our men and women in uniform that in essence their views, concerns, and perspectives do not matter." The secretary added, "Our military must be afforded the opportunity to inform us of their concerns, insights, and suggestions if we are to carry out this change successfully." In no uncertain terms, the Defense Secretary wrote that he is "strongly opposed" to any changes right now.
A White House statement released right after the Associated Press made public Gates' letter, however, reiterated that the president's pledge to repeal "don't ask, don't tell" remains "unequivocal, according to spokesman Tommy Vietor, who added, Obama is "committed to getting this done soon and right."
Sure enough, the Pentagon/White House two-shot salvo across the bow of repeal efforts— rankled among others activists, think tank experts, gay members of Congress, and LGBT veterans discharged under the current law.
Openly gay Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, for example, voiced disappointment in the president. "He has the most powerful bully pulpit in the world," she told the Advocate. "I hope he uses it to advance equality."
Christopher Neff, deputy executive director of the Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Palm center offered his assessment. Gates' letter, he said, "Represents a public effort by the Obama Administration to put a stop to congressional repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell' in 2010." Scolded Neff, "Clearly the Defense Department is not its own branch of government," he said. "The Secretary of Defense serves the president."
Aubrey Sarvis executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, also chided the president for doing the "wrong thing" and charged Secretary Gates with delivering "a devastating blow to getting repeal done this year," he said, adding, "Their joint decision showed a lack of respect for our LGBT service members … on the frontlines every day risking their lives for our safety." An Army veteran, Sarvis's delivered his remarks at the Lafayette Park rally.
One estimate puts the number of gays troops at 66,000.
Just as the non-violent civil disobedience at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue was organized by GetEqual ( www.getequal.org ) and two other activists groups —Queer Rising ( www.queerrising.org ) and Talk About Equality ( www.TalkAboutEquality.org ) so they organized the peaceful rally, which also featured remarks from Army infantryman and West Point alumnus Lt. Dan Choi, whose gay discharge is still pending, and James Pietrangelo II, a gay veteran discharged under "don't ask, don't tell."
Both men were arrested twice previously for civil disobedience at the White House, but did not participate in the most civil disobedience because a District of Columbia Superior Court order bars Choi and Pietrangelo's presence throughout the entire block surrounding the White House, at least until their cases are resolved or contempt citations.
Alexander Nicholson, executive director of Servicemembers United, also addressed the rally, telling attendees, that upon running into White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel over the weekend Nicholson asked Emanuel about the repeal chances this year.
"He said he thought we had a 30 to 40 percent shot of repealing 'don't ask, don't tell' left this year," Nicholson said. "You know why it's not 60 to 80 percent? Because they don't support us right now," he added, pointing at the White House as the crowed cheered, according to the Advocate's reporting.
Asked for his thoughts, Richard Socarides, a former White House adviser under Bill Clinton, offered a sobering assessment. "After the very clear and deliberate Gates letter, I'm not optimistic about getting a repeal bill through this year, not even one that delays implementation till next year," he said.
Socarides, who did not attend the rally, continued, "The risk the president runs is that if the mid term elections turn out as badly as now predicted, he may not have the votes to deliver on his campaign promise. It's a high stakes balancing act he's engaging in -- balancing our constitutional rights against keeping a Republican secretary of defense happy with him. Frankly I don't understand why the White House is holding off on doing this now, especially with all the popular support it has in the polls."
Current public opinion shows upwards of seven in ten Americans recently polled support repeal.
Meanwhile, the congressional time clock ticks away with repeal advocates, including gay and non-veterans, ramping up for a May 10th and 11th — the National Veterans Lobbying Day on Capitol Hill.
The Advocate reported, some lobbyists working to lift the ban still believe that Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee is just two or three votes shy of reaching the necessary the votes to attach a "don't ask, don't" repeal measure to the defense budget recommendations. But that reported estimate came before Gates weighed in. The great fear is that his strong opposition to any changes right now will stall momentum since the White House has in effect given cover for lawmakers to balk, especially in a mid-term election year.
Senators whom repeal advocates continue to pursue include Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown and five Democrats: Indiana's Evan Byah, West Virginia's Robert Byrd, Virginia's Jim Webb, Nebraska's Ben Nelson, and Florida's Bill Nelson.
On Capitol Hill one possible repeal-this-year scenario goes like this, according the Palm Center. Calling it a "narrow legislative opportunity," the center's scholars say that if Congress decides to repeal "don't ask, don't tell, in 2010, lawmakers could provide the Pentagon with leeway regarding implementation. Erasing "don't ask, don't tell" from federal law and allowing the Department of Defense to formulate new policies over time "would meet the letter and spirit of" Gates correspondence, said Palm's executive director Aaron Belkin.
While some gay activists my recoil from any legislation without any "specific, statutory implementation plan," Palm's deputy director says that such opposition is "unwarranted." As Neff explained, "Once the law is off the books, the discharges will stop; and it will be exceedingly difficult, from a political and operational stand point, for future administrations to reinstate discrimination."
