Tonight, immediately after President Barack Obama completed his State of the Union address, the Human Rights Campaign, Evan Wolfson of Freedom to Marry, and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, all released statements supporting the President’s call to repeal DADT.
HRC’s Joe Solmonese:
“The Commander in Chief sent a clear message tonight that in a time of war, what matters is that our men and women get the job done – not whether they’re gay or straight. Our ‘Voices of Honor’ campaign will bring about much needed action to end this law that the vast majority of Americans oppose. Our country simply cannot afford this discriminatory law that hurts military readiness by denying patriotic men and women the opportunity to serve. Ridding our laws of discrimination that weakens our national security will require continued leadership from the President as well as Congressional allies.â€
Freedom To Marry’s Evan Wolfson went a step further, and rightly so:
“President Obama’s pledge to end discrimination against gay people serving in the military, repeated in tonight’s State of the Union, is an important show of support for gay and lesbian Americans as well as a boost to our national security. Unfortunately, the President failed to address the government’s discrimination against same-sex couples in his speech.”
SLDN:
“We applaud the President tonight for his call to Congress to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” this year. We very much need a sense of urgency to get this done in 2010. We call on the President to repeal the archaic 1993 law in his defense budget currently now being drafted, that is probably the only and best moving bill where DADT can be killed this year.”
Lt. Dan Choi, via Twitter:
“…Now I have a job. To make sure it happens…”
It’s time to gear up. Game on!
Pam Spaulding has a few other statements.