Obama: 'Don't ask, don't tell' won't do

by Katherine Skiba and Peter Nicholas

President Obama, speaking to the nation's largest gay rights organization, pledged tonight to end the law prohibiting openly gay and lesbian citizens from serving in the military.

"I will end 'don't ask, don't tell'; that is my commitment," said Obama, adding that he is also committed to ending the Defense of Marriage Act.

Obama, speaking to nearly 3,000 gay and lesbian activists at a dinner-fundraiser hosted by the Human Rights Campaign, addressed the larger effort for equality. "I'm here with you in that fight," he said. The president also said that there were "still laws to change and hearts to open."

Obama's address came amid growing concern in the LGBT community that he's not acting fast enough on campaign pledges to more fully incorporate gays and lesbians into the fabric of American life.

The president acknowledged those concerns but said that gays and lesbians would be able to look back on his administration as one that fought hard for gay rights.

Obama praised the Human Rights Campaign and specifically mentioned its work for people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. In the Washington banquet hall where he spoke, there was no obvious sign of dissent or dissatisfaction. The president was welcomed with loud and sustained applause. When someone in the crowd yelled out, "We love you," the president replied, "I love you back." That unleashed more cheers.

Still, people interviewed before the president's speech expressed frustration and concern over the pace of change.

"I am disappointed, and I am frustrated," said Cleve Jones, 54, a former aide to gay rights leader Harvey Milk, the San Francisco supervisor shot to death in City Hall in 1978. Jones, speaking before the president's address, said he continues to support Obama, but "my sense is there is growing concern and apprehension that he is not going to deliver."

He and others are disheartened not only by what they perceive as Obama's glacial pace, but by the one-step-forward, one-step-backward progress on the state level. Their Exhibit A is California's Proposition 8, which halted same-sex marriages after they had been permitted by the state Supreme Court.

Now activists promise to exert a new push for more rights with respect to marriage, adoption, the workplace, immigration and other realms.

The uneven track record to date has Jones fed up with what he termed "incrementalism" and tired of politicians telling activists to prioritize their demands. He compared his cause to the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. "We want equal protection under the law on all matters governed by civil law -- in all 50 states. That's also known as the 14th Amendment," he said.

On Sunday, Jones will lead a crowd expected to reach into the thousands in a demonstration, billed as the National Equality March, which will culminate with a rally at the Capitol.

Earlier today, there were behind-closed-doors events attached to the march that were aimed at training young gays and lesbians how to lobby, host a phone bank and organize on campuses. Some events focused on "don't ask, don't tell," and a wreath-laying was planned at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.

Obama, in addressing the Human Rights Campaign's $250-a-plate dinner, is the second president to appear at the annual gala. The group advocates for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people. The first to attend the gala was President Clinton in 1997.

The only openly gay member of Congress expected to attend is Rep. Jared Polis, a freshman Democrat from Colorado. No-shows are Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), who said they had commitments outside Washington.

Frank, for his part, has dismissed Sunday's march as "a waste of time at best," saying there are more effective ways to pressure Congress to advance gay rights.

To many gay rights activists, Obama has sent mixed signals since he took office in January.

Activists were rankled when the conservative Rev. Rick Warren, a high-profile backer of Proposition 8 and founder of Orange County's Saddleback Church, gave the invocation at Obama's inauguration. Eight months later, the president has gotten good marks for appointing gays and lesbians to administration posts, such as John Berry, director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management; Nancy Sutley, chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality; and Fred Hochberg, chairman and president of the Export-Import Bank.

On Thursday the House passed a bill that would broaden the federal hate-crime law to cover violence against gays. The measure is expected to go before the Senate within days.

Obama noted that the bill was named after Matthew Shepard, the young gay college student whose killing in Wyoming in 1998 galvanized the gay rights movement. "This bill will pass and I will sign it into law," the president said to more cheers.

Still, gay leaders such as Denis Dison, a spokesman for the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, which supports openly gay and lesbian office-seekers and elected officials, gives Obama a grade of "incomplete."

There have been symbolic events, including a White House reception in June to mark LGBT Pride Month; invitations to the White House Easter Egg Roll to gays, lesbians and their children; and a nod to same-sex parents in a late September proclamation heralding "Family Day."

But gays and lesbians say they want more than window dressing.

"We recognize the president has a lot on his plate, but we also remember eight years of peace and prosperity under Bill Clinton," Jones said. "He came to our parties, he took our campaign contributions, he issued proclamations -- and he gave us 'don't ask, don't tell' and the Defense of Marriage Act. We're not going to repeat our experience."

Pentagon figures released Friday indicate 10,507 men and women have been discharged from the military under "don't ask, don't tell" in the 12 years ending in 2008. Defense Department spokeswoman Cynthia Smith declined to release the number let go under Obama, saying these figures would be available next spring.

Obama has told Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that he is committed to repealing the policy, Smith said, and there is an ongoing review by Defense attorneys to see whether there is flexibility in how the law is applied.

It's small consolation to West Point graduate 1st Lt. Daniel Choi, 28, a gay man who served in Iraq with the 10th Mountain Division for 15 months ending in 2007. Now with the New York Army National Guard, he's been given his walking papers because of the policy and now awaits final discharge.

Steve Hildebrand, a gay former Obama campaign official, met the president in the Oval Office in June and informed him that the gay community was impatient and wanted him to move decisively. "He understood that and said people will not be disappointed," Hildebrand said.

But another Democratic strategist expects Obama to wait until next year to push for changes on same-sex marriage and other issues. The strategist, who asked for anonymity to speak freely, predicted that Obama first would spend his political capital on priorities such as healthcare, the economy and energy independence.

Will he get to issues that figure high among gays and lesbians? "I have no doubt," the strategist said. "Will it be next week? I don't think so."

New York City attorney Richard Socarides, Clinton's former senior advisor on gay and lesbian issues, said he believes Obama is worried about "getting too far out front on some of these social issues" because he fears offending social conservatives.

Socarides, 54, who planned to attend the black-tie dinner and Sunday's march, said his perception is that Obama is worried that being too aggressive on gay issues will cost him GOP support on healthcare, the environment and foreign affairs.