Following a dramatic and eloquent speech, on Dec. 22 President Obama 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 "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ( DADT ) 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 requires certification 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 Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., a champion of the repeal measure, objected. Lieberman's objection effectively blocked the amendment from being considered without first getting the consent of at least 60 senators.
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. on Dec. 22. 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 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, 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 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, 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. "He was sincere and correct about making this a priority." Cooper, a former servicemember who had a front row seat during the ceremony, said that, as the president shook hands with guests on the front row, following the ceremony, Cooper said to 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 Dec. 18, 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 the Dec. 22 ceremony, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Republican Senator 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 Dec. 15 by a 250-175 vote and sent it immediately to the Senate, which approved it Dec. 18 65-31.
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 Dec. 21, 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 Dec. 21 by House Speaker Pelosi and Majority Whip Hoyer to sign the enrollment document for the bill to be sent to the president. Frank said the hundreds of people in attendance saying "God Bless America."
"It was a very moving moment," said Frank.
Also on stage for the Dec. 22 ceremony were Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen and Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, an openly gay Marine who was the first servicemember wounded in the Iraq War.
The president used 15 pens to sign the legislation into law. It could not be determined by deadline to whom those pens will be given.
2010 by Keen News Service. All rights reserved.
