Barney says White House is 'ducking' DADT repeal

From Metro Weekly, a local DC gay paper, we have further confirmation that the President is not on our side on Don't Ask, Don't Tell - he's "not being supportive" in terms of lifting the ban this year. Barney Frank confirms it:

Following up on what he previously referred to as the ''ambiguous'' nature of the White House's support for a repeal this year, Rep. Frank said, ''They're ducking. Basically, yeah, they're not being supportive, and they're letting Gates be the spokesman, which is a great mistake.''

Joe and I have been saying this for months. Now it's a fact. Joe Solmonese at the Human Rights Campaign has been saying for almost a year that the White House is being supportive, that they have a plan, that DADT will be repealed this year. Now we know the truth. So what is HRC going to do about it? What is White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina, the supposed White House point person on this issue, doing about it? Does Messina really want a blow up with the gay community in the last months before the elections, when gays and lesbians finally figure out that the White House never intended to lift the ban this year (and they still haven't passed ENDA or repealed DOMA)? I can't imagine so screwing up relations with the gay community, that the elections end up being all about the "the gays," will go down as a high point of Messina's time in the White House.

We have a serious problem here, folks. If Barney is calling out the President on gay issues, something he was always loathe to do, then things are bad. Read More...

NYT on DADT repeal: 'a considerable push by President Obama is needed to end a shameful era'

The New York Times opines, approvingly, on the Pentagon's new DADT policies. But, the Times also notes repealing the law is what's needed. On that, Obama has to step up:

To show the brass’s determination behind the new policy, the secretary said that only generals and naval flag officers will be authorized to initiate fact-finding inquiries. He also struck down the outrageous practice of allowing service members’ confidential conversations with lawyers, clergy, physicians and therapists to be used against them in fact-finding inquiries.

The changes are heartening progress toward the day when the American military is the equal of those in Britain, Israel, Canada and other nations where gays serve openly. The repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” is favored by a majority of Americans. But with Congress in such turmoil, a considerable push by President Obama is needed to end a shameful era in which gay men and lesbians have been denied standing as patriots defending the nation.

The President can show he's serious by including repeal language in the policy recommendations sent from the Pentagon to Congress for inclusion in the Department of Defense authorization. That would be a powerful signal. Not sending a repeal recommendation also sends a signal. Let's hope Jim Messina, who is handling the issue at the White House, remembers the repeated promises the President made to end Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Because, the rest of us remember it -- and are expecting the President to keep the promise. Sure, it might take "a considerable push." But, as we finally saw on health care, when Obama actually pushes, our side can win. Read More...

Day 11 since Barney Frank asked White House to clarify if they want DADT repealed this year. No response from Obama.

It's been 11 days since Congressman Barney Frank went public with his concerns that the White House isn't fully on board with repealing "Don't Ask Don't Tell" this year. Barney called on the White House to come clean, and tell us whether they want to see DADT repealed this year or not. The White House's response to the gay community's most senior member in Congress? Dead silence.

Day 11 and counting:

On Monday, Rep. Frank's office sent out the following revision to that statement:

"In a recent interview, I misspoke and garbled my answer to a question posed by reporter Kerry Eleveld. I was trying to cover too many issues at once and, in fact, I did not mean to imply that the Administration has opposed moving forward with the repeal of 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.' However, the Administration has been ambiguous about it, and that ambiguity has allowed some to interpret Secretary Gates’ argument for a delay in implementation as a delay in adopting the legislation. I believe that the Administration should make clear that it supports legislative action this year, and that while implementation is being worked out, it will carry out the policy in the way it was originally intended, which would reduce the number of discharges, in my view, by over 90%."

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Dan Choi on Rachel Maddow. One year after coming out. One week after getting arrested.

Dan Choi came out on Rachel Maddow's show a year ago last night. One year later, he returned to the show to talk about the past year and his arrest for handcuffing himself to the White House fence last week. It's a powerful interview. You'll see Kerry Eleveld from the Advocate asking Sec. Gates a question in the first part of the clip. And, Dan gives a shout out to GetEqual's Robin McGehee who was also arrested outside of the White House during the DADT protest.

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