LGBT Community Remains Skeptical of Promised Changes From Pres. Obama

President Obama vowed in the State of the Union Wednesday night to end “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the policy that prohibits people who are openly gay from serving in the military. Since it was passed in 1993, thousands of gay service members have been kicked out.

But the president has made similar pledges before, and gay rights activists are becoming frustrated with the delay.

“This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are,” Obama said Wednesday during his State of the Union address. “It’s the right thing to do.”

Several gay rights activists expressed skepticism and disappointment with the President’s broad promises at change. Aubrey Sarvis, who heads the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, was hoping for something more from the president’s speech on Wednesday night.

“I would have liked to have heard more specifics,” Sarvis said. “But we’ve come to learn in the past year that’s not the president’s style.”

In addition, Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force stated, “The time for broad statements is over. The time to get down to business is overdue.”

Rep. Patrick Murphy, an Iraq war veteran, is taking the lead in urging Congress to pass a law that would change Pentagon policy and permit gay service members to serve openly.

The Democrat from Pennsylvania says “don’t ask, don’t tell” is forcing good people out of the military — helicopter mechanics, Arab linguists, medics — at a time when polls show strong support from within the military for changing the policy.

But Murphy lacks enough support in Congress to push forward any legislation. He has 187 supporters, but he needs dozens more for a majority.

“Washington is a tough place to make change happen,” Murphy says. “I think Congress needs to get a backbone. It’s up to Congress to overturn that law, it’s not even the president’s responsibility.”

Obama’s relationship with the gay community has been rocky since his election. Gays and lesbians objected to the invitation of evangelist Rev. Rick Warren to participate in Obama’s inauguration because of Warren’s support for repealing gay marriage in California.

At the same time, Obama will have to satisfy the military. Some former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have acknowledged the policy is flawed, and Mullen signed off on a journal article that called for lifting the ban.

Yet a group that Mullen formed to advise him on the issue has urged a delay that could go into the middle of the next presidential election year.

“Now is not the time,” the in-house advisers for Mullen wrote recently in a memorandum. “The importance of winning the wars we are in, along with the stress on the force, our body of knowledge and the number of unknowns, demand that we act with deliberation.”

Asked Thursday whether the Army is ready for such a change, Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey did not directly answer the question.

“What you heard last night was the beginning of a process,” Casey said during an appearance at a Washington think tank.

Further complicating the issue is debate among Democrats on Capitol Hill. Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, supports a repeal of the law and scheduled Tuesday’s hearing on the issue.

But Levin’s counterpart in the House, Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., has said it is not wise to impose such upheaval while troops are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And Republicans could score political points against Democrats if it appears as though the party won’t listen to the advice of military commanders.

“No action to change the law should be taken by the administration or by this Congress until we have a full and complete understanding of the reasons why the current law threatens or undermines readiness in any significant way,” Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., wrote to Mullen and Gates.

Republican Sen. John McCain, a prisoner of war during Vietnam and Obama’s opponent in the 2008 presidential race, said the policy has been successful.

“At a time when our armed forces are fighting and sacrificing on the battlefield, now is not the time to abandon the policy,” said McCain, R-Ariz.