So here’s the live feed from the Department of Interior, where President Obama will made Christmas come three days early.
Everyone is shouting “Yes we can.” President Obama says “Yes we did. … This is a good day.” ALL SMILES! Obama is telling the story of a heroic gay soldier, and how his friend and comrade didn’t care when, forty years after fighting together at the Battle Of The Bulge, he came out.
“This morning I am proud to sign a law that will bring an end to Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” Obama says, to what might as well be his Democrats predecessor two administrations ago. “No longer will our country be denied the service of thousands of Americans forced to leave the military.”
Pelosi, Frank, Hoyer, Levin, and even Lieberman got shout outs. Oh, and Republicans Collins! AND REP. PATRICK MURPHY, who nabs a standing O. And the prez doesn’t forget to name drop Gates and Mullen, Jeh Johnson and Carter Ham. And gay soldiers, like Alva.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
As for the little matter of actually repealing DADT, when Mullen and Gates sign off on this thing? Obama assures he’s spoken to the service chiefs, and, “We are not going to be dragging our feet to get this done.”
Does everyone remember when they were furious with the president for moving so slowly on repeal? Haha, good times.
Monique
my husband is part of the Canadian Military. He served along side of openly gay men and women. He did not feel threataned. He didn’t even care. Canada’s military has a “Don’t ask Don’t care” in their military enlistment procedures. They don’t ask, nor do they care who you sleep with. Can you do your job? Yes. Then who cares what you do on your spare time, or who you sleep with. I’m finally happy that our neighbors to the south have finally caught up to us in this one issue. Now, time to get the whole Gay marriage thing sorted out 😉
Imo
Aren’t they torturing innocent victims to death in dark
holes somewhere overseas every day anymore?
Stripping and raping them while taking pictures?
“Finest military in the world” my ass.
Cam
@Imo:
Ahhh, I see the trolls are out early to try to distract from a gay rights bill being signed into law.
No matter our dissagreements on Queerty…and there are many, I think we can all agree that this is a good step in the right direction.
My guess, is now that the justice Dept. can’t argue that DADT is necessary and needed by the Pentagon and Congress that the DADT lawsuit is decided favorably by the 9th circut in a few months and the DOJ won’t appeal. But who knows.
Kev C
Yeah, it was a good show, but those military marches are too butch. And we need new uniforms if we are to serve openly.
Daez
@Imo: “Innocent victims” that would love nothing more than to strap an explosive to their chest, walk into some child’s grade school and explode so they can get some access to some virgins to rape and pillage on the other side?
So what if they tortured them. Its much less than they would do to us.
Franky
@Monique:
Also, we recently allowed Trans people in the Canadian Forces to choose what military uniform they want to wear.
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Dress+rules+established+transsexuals+military/3942334/story.html
Monique
@Franky: I know. one of my husband’s superiors was going through with her re-assignment surgery right after we got posted out of that base.
ChiGuy76
@Daez: How quickly we get of topic here. However, I must disagree. I do not condone nor accept torture under any circumstances. This is not because of the whole “Constitutional thing” either. Torture is impractical and counterproductive. It does not produce reliable results or intelligence. A victim will say anything to make the torture stop even what their interrogator believes to be true. This will lead to much misinformation and false intelligence and then subsequently loss of lives…American lives to be exact.
Furthermore, the whole “they will do it us” argument is really immature and short-sighted. It may sound tough and aggressive, but really exposes us as weak and passive. Fighting terrorism is not “24” or an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. Generally, it is a thankless and unglamorous job to get the correct information to protect our country and its citizens. Torturing suspects or even known terrorists only creates roadblocks to accomplishing this task. The more we torture others, the more we damage our own security.
Imo
@Daez:
I was referring to really innocent victims like:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalid_El-Masri
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilawar_(torture_victim)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binyam_Mohamed
The crimes committed by the USAF seem to be
horrendous. Nothing learned from vietnam really.
Sorry for failing to deliver an LGBT context here.
joedee1969
In case you missed the signing , here is the video. It is very emotional:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-MjLWkDNqY
Rick Gold
Cue the zombies, apocalyptic music and barrels of burning debris.
The collapse of American society into a dystopian wasteland is imminent as long prophesied by the sex-obsessed Republican theocrats.
Monique
@Rick Gold:
*looks around at Canada*
We allow same sex marriage
we allow homosexual people to serve openly in the military
we allow women to have a choice over their bodies.
we have socialized health care that is pretty darned good.
Yup collapsed society, living in complete anarchy…
(BTW I know you were being sarcastic, I was going with the sarcasm with my own sarcasm supporting your sarcasm…does that make any sense)
Jim Hlavac
Nice that he signed it. Finally. Oh I hate nitpicking in the face of victory, I really do. But he signed it at the Department of the Interior? And what do the national parks and stuff have to do with gay folks in the military? Legislation is usually signed in the Rose Garden, or another symbolic venue related to the legislation itself. But the parks department? Was there no room at the White House? Was not the East Room big enough? Or would that just be too much for America to handle yet? You know, saying or doing something nice for gay people in the people’s mansion? Was there no room at the Pentagon, to which the repeal is directed? Or at an actual army base? Hmm. Yes, nice that this is repealed — through the efforts of 14,000 discharged soldiers, and thousands of activists, and millions of gay folks, and even quite a few heteros — no one person did this, even if some will try to take the credit. But the Interior Department? I guess there’s still no room at the inn for us. Or maybe I’m just too sensitive after having been clobbered for so long. You young ones probably never had to stand silently while cops sauntered through the gay bars looking at IDs and fingering their nightsticks, like I did. It was a police state against us — and I would have liked to see a bit more symbolism for one of the few pieces of legislation for us ever passed.
Now, let’s hope when DOMA is repealed by whomever is president at the time he or she does it at the White House. With more than one or two gay people around. For the symbolism is too important. At least to me it is.
Spike
To all the gays that abandoned Obama in the last year regarding DADT . . . SUCK IT! You all nothing more then teademocrats, it’s all about YOU YOU YOU!
Now on to the glow stick parties in Afghanistan!!!! Turn up that Gaga remix, shirts off, lets get this afterparty going !!!!
Gregoire
Jim, the Rose Garden is festooned with holiday decorations, as there is rarely an official business to do there in December. If he had signed it there, you would have been on here screaming, “Couldn’t they have taken all that down?! How disrespectful! I guess Obama doesn’t take this seriously.” There’s always a negative, and leave it to Queerty commenters to zoom in on it.
Imo
WOW – Now I am moderated and my comments censored,
just for pointing out facts anyone can easily look up.
I was about to post a rather short list of unjustly detained persons with liks to wikipedia only. But it’s not happening.
Well I am off QUEERTY then, sorry for bothering.
robert
Obama wow.. this is great.. getting rid of DADT…what will Queerty do now for Obama bashing…
J.
@ Jim. I was there today. There were more than 100 people in attendance, maybe even 200. Do you really think it is a good idea to have 200 people out in the Rose Garden while it is some 30 degrees outside? The oval office can in no way hold that many people so this is the next best thing and it’s near the White House. The location is unimportant in this case, it’s what is happening inside that matters the most.
Devon
Yawn.
Wake me up when it’s actually, y’know, repealed.
J.
@ Jim. Also, there was more than one or two gay people around. I would venture to say that most of those in attendance were gay, about 50-60%.
David Ehrenstein
http://fablog.ehrensteinland.com/2010/12/22/wrestling-with-barry/
OrchidIslander
@robert: “…what will Queerty do now for Obama bashing…”
Robert, Queerty’s contributing writers are pretty creative. Some would say that they are so tethered to – and vociferous about – their agendas and points of view, that reality doesn’t matter. Think of em as a sort of Fox News gay lite version.
Give em time, they are nothing if not resourceful.
declanto
@J.: Thanks for the realistic insight to how “we” were there.
tjr101
Where is Jason and the other Obama haters? They’re noticeably absent.
Obama
What will Queerty complain about now. In a deep recession too.
http://www.politicususa.com/en/maddow-obama-agenda
whatever
@Jim Hlavac: You sound like a little sniveling bitch boy. No offense.
J.
@ Declanto: Was that a compliment or dig?
ewe
And will we demand and receive marriage equality or will we be expected to wait for Obama to conclude his emotional evolution on the topic? That is the exact reason we do not wait around for approval from anyone. Throw it into the courts. Clog the judicial system. Choke the enemy with their own game.
Phil-SoFla
@Jim Hlavac: As historic as the White House is, there are no rooms that can accommodate a crowd that huge, so they needed an auditorium. I’m glad Obama invited the bloggers who were highly critical of him and Robin McGehee of GetEqual and Dan Choi, who both chained themselves to the White House fence in protest. I think that works as an olive branch.
swarm
Well I’m an Obama basher and nevertheless, lack of LGBT people there aside, I thought the speech itself was great. Especially the line “he’s big, he’s mean and he kills lotsa people and I don’t care” (paraphrased)
These comments, OTOH are pretty pathetic. @IMO your posts are going into automatic moderation by the COMPUTER for posting several links at one time, READ the note next time. I hope you’re gone, tho.
#FirstTimeInHistory Gay People Applauded on TV YAY! I’m not too smug or condescending to cheer today.
The Artist
Congrats to the President! He deserves all the praise for doin the right thing. Maybe now he will catch a small break, until “the community” start bitchin about something else. The man is BRILLIANT!!! PEACELUVNBWILD.
$0.02
This is great. It may be the last time we see a big step in the right direction given the house has gone back to the Republicans. Maybe if they screw up everything he and the dems try to accomplish out of their sheer disdain for the black guy in the oval office, and the people get tired of the same old ass-backwards political tactics, vote them out if Obama gets voted back in for a second term, MAYBE we’ll see the end of DOMA and ENDA. Enjoy the high while it lasts.
@The Artist, I don’t think Obama deserves “all” the “praise” given 1) he is not a deity (when will some folks understand that he is a man not God) 2) it took the house and Senate to come together and vote the repeal. If anything, kudos should be going around not just to one person.