Bill Clinton blames uninfluential, angry gays for Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell; claims Defense of Marriage blocked Constitutional change [video]
”You want to talk about Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell? I’ll tell you exactly what happened. You couldn’t deliver me any support in the Congress! And they voted by a veto-proof majority in both houses against my attempt to let gays serve in the military. And the media supported them. They raised all kinds of devilment. And all — most of you did was to attack me instead of getting me some support in the Congress. Now, that’s the truth!”
”You may have noticed that Presidents aren’t dictators. They voted — they were about to vote for the old policy by margins exceeding 80% in the House. And exceeding 70% in the Senate. They gave test votes out there to send me a message that they were going to reverse any attempt I made by executive order to force them to accept gays in the military.
”And let me remind you, that public opinion now is more strongly in our favor than it was 16 years ago. And I have continued support….”
”When General Colin Powell came up with this Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, it was defined while he was Chairman, much differently than it was implemented. He said, ‘If you will accept this, here’s what we’ll do. We will not pursue anyone, any military members out of uniform will be free to march in gay rights parades, go to gay bars, go to political meetings. Whatever mailings they get, whatever they do in their private lives — none of this will be a basis for dismissal. It all turned out to be a fraud because of the enormous reaction against it among the middle officers and down, after it was promulgated and Colin was gone.
”So, nobody regrets how this was implemented anymore than I do. But the Congress also put that into law by a veto-proof majority. And many of your friends voted for that, believing the explanation about how it would be eliminated. So, I hated what happened. I regret it. But I didn’t have, I didn’t think at the time, any choice if I wanted any progress to be made at all.
”I think it’s ridiculous, can you believe they spent — whatever they spent, $150,000 to get rid of a valued Arabic speaker recently. And you know, the thing that changed me forever on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, was when I learned that 130 gay servicepeople were allowed to serve and risk their lives during the first Gulf War. And all of their commanders knew they were gay. They let them go out their and risk their lives when they needed them. Then as soon as the first Gulf War was over, they kicked them out. That’s all I needed to know. That’s all anybody needed to know that this policy should be changed.
”The reason I signed DOMA, was, and I said when I signed it, that I thought the question of whether gays should marry should be left up to states and religious organizations. And if any church or other religious body wanted to recognize gay marriage they ought to. We were attempting at the time, in a very reactionary Congress to head off, an attempt to send a Constitutional Amendement banning gay marriage to the states. And if you look at the Eleven Referendum much later, in 2004, in the election in which the Republicans put on the ballot to try to get the base vote for President Bush up, I think it’s obvious that something had to be done to try to keep the Republican Congress from sending that. President doesn’t even get to veto that. Congress can refer Constitutional amendments to the states.
”I didn’t like, signing DOMA, and I certainly didn’t like the constraints that were put on benefits, and I’ve done everything I could. And I’m proud to say that the State Department is the first ever department to restore benefits to gay partners in the Obama administration. And I think we’re going forward in the right direction now for Federal employees. And I don’t like that either, I don’t like the DOMA. But actually, all these things illustrate the point I’m trying to make: America has rapidly moved to a different place on a lot of these issues.”
Former President Bill Clinton wagging his finger at a heckler, said to be Lane Hudson, during his speech at Netroots Nation. He seems to be alluding to members of Congress like Barney Frank, who at the time supported Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, unconvincingly framing it with an additional clause of “Don’t Pursue.” Clinton called it a decent compromise at the time of signing. Regarding DOMA, President Clinton publicly disavowed any support for gay marriage up until about two weeks ago. He indicated at the time, that DOMA was divisive and unnecessary — then he signed it into law. His wife, Hillary Clinton, as the Secretary of State, is the head of the State Department to which the former President refers in this speech. Unfortunately, it is common knowledge that she, and current President Barack Obama, have openly said that they don’t believe in marriage for gay men and lesbians. At best, they have said they support civil unions and benefits, and that it is a matter for individual states to consider. Both have promised to get DADT repealed, and Obama has said the same about DOMA. Obama’s Administration has not to date responded effectively to inquiries and complaints regarding the apparent lack of movement on his campaign promises to the GLBT community — except for to say that they’re working on a number of things, and they’re kind of busy with much bigger issues. Thanks to Mr. Hudson’s interruption, this is probably the first time Bill Clinton has directly addressed these questions at length in a public forum. (CSPAN / Wonkette)
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