President Barack Obama, speaks at the Human Rights Campaign national dinner, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009, in Washington. (AP Photo)
At the annual dinner of the Human Rights Campaign on Saturday, President Barack Obama restated his vow to obliterate the military’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy when it comes to sexual orientation.
To a crowd of cheering gay rights supporters he said “I stand here with you.”
The president continued:
We should not be punishing patriotic Americans who have stepped forward to serve the country… We should be celebrating their willingness to step forward and show such courage.”
No timeline for such a change in the military was set forth, however, the president spoke about enacting hate crime legislation and extending benefits to domestic partners.
Some gay advocates, however, believe the president has not followed through with many of the promises he made during his campaign. Gay rights activist Cleve Jones told the Associated Press that “He repeated his promises that he’s made to us before, but he did not indicate when he would accomplish these goals and we’ve been waiting for a long time now.”
On Sunday, the Human Rights Campaign sponsored the National Equality March in support of gay rights. According to the New York Times, a number of marchers gave the president’s Saturday speech “low marks for lacking any new substance and failing to acknowledge several major issues confronting the gay movement.” The Washington, DC rally was the largest demonstration for gay rights in almost 10 years.
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