DADT: Rep. Barney Frank’s Statement On Repeal Certification

“Given Leon Panetta’s lifelong record of opposition to unfair discrimination, I knew when the President appointed him to be the Secretary of Defense that he would act promptly to implement last December’s legislation to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

“I have a prediction: just as we have seen in those states where same-sex marriage has occurred with none of the negative consequences predicted, it will soon be clear that there was never any basis for this discriminatory policy in the first place other than prejudice, and the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender servicemembers will soon demonstrate that there never was a good reason to keep them from serving our country.”

— Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) on the news that President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have signed the certification, required by law, stating that the Defense Department is prepared to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”