In a rare interview given to the gay
media, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said he was
committed to repeal of “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” – the military's
policy that bans gays and lesbians from serving openly – but would
only do so after building consensus on the issue.
Obama spoke with Philadelphia Gay News
Publisher Mark Segal – an offer, Segal said, Senator John McCain
refused.
The Illinois senator said he would not
attach a signing statement ending the policy to a military spending
bill, a process that President Bush has used to set other military
policies.
“I want to make sure that when we
reverse 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' it's gone through a process and we've
built a consensus or at least a clarity of what my expectations are
so that it works. My first obligation as the president is to make
sure that I keep the American people safe and that our military is
functioning effectively,” Obama said. “Although I have
consistently said I would repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell', I believe
that the way to do it is make sure that we are working through a
process, getting the Joint Chiefs of Staff clear in terms of what our
priorities are going to be.”
Obama compared his consensus-building
approach to ending the gay ban to earlier efforts to integrate female
service members.
“That's how we were able to integrate
the armed services to get women more actively involved in the armed
services,” Obama said.
The “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy
is considered by gay activists a betrayal by then-President Bill
Clinton, who had promised to end an outright ban on gays and lesbians
from serving in the military. Instead, the president devised a
compromise policy in “Don't Ask” when he met with Congressional
and military resistance. The policy allows gays to serve in the
military so long as they remain closeted.
According to the Servicemembers Legal
Defense Network (SLDN), a group dedicated to ending gay and lesbian
discrimination in the military, 12,000 men and women have been
dismissed under the policy which took effect in 1993.
Gay groups have long sought to remove
the prohibition. “'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' denies our families and
loved ones critical rights and protections that no American, let
alone those who serve in our armed forces, should be denied,” said
Jody M. Huckaby, Executive Director of Parents, Families and Friends
of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), in a prepared statement. “Under the
law, parents have been questioned about their children, troops are
barred from being part of civil laws recognizing their relationships
and the children of same-sex military couples are left behind by the
military's benefits system. ...['Don't Ask, Don't Tell'] is one of
the most anti-family laws on the books today.”