Don't Ask, Don't Tell - Just Do It

Like most other gay folks, I was gratified the other night to hear President Obama announce at the State of the Union address his intention to put repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell on the agenda for 2010.

Of course we were all hyped when we heard it the first time, too. Back when he was pandering the rainbow coalition for votes during his campaign, pledging to be a "fierce advocate" for LGBT rights. To start working toward getting rid of DADT during his first year as president was part of that promise.

Not that he has totally snubbed us, I guess, but tagging him a "fierce advocate" is probably a stretch. It's really little wonder that much of the queer community reacted approvingly, but also with a fair amount of skepticism, the other night after hearing him vow again to do what he vowed once before with nothing gotten done so far.

This DADT thing, I wouldn't think, should be such a big ordeal to get over and done with in short order. Even military personnel, the most affected by it, seem for the greater part to be more okay with the gays around than before. But you never know; I could be very naïve and very wrong.

There are some up on the hill to be reckoned with, having an altogether different take on things. John McCain said that "this successful policy has been in effect for over fifteen years" and that "at a time when our Armed Forces are fighting and sacrificing on the battlefield, now is not the time to abandon the policy."

The policy succeeding at what, I do not know, nor why we being at war makes for not a good time to end it... but old people say funny things sometimes without making much sense. I'm sure he's not alone, alongside some batty others who probably also would consider DADT a successful policy for wartime, somehow.

I really would not expect, however, McCain and the like-minded to very likely do too much at the end of the day, to hinder rescinding DADT. I would presume that a lot of their blathering so far is nothing much more than political posturing for the sake of appeasing their base. Like I said, though, I could be terribly mistaken.

Of course, we won't know for sure how much of a fracas it is going to take getting DADT repealed already, unless and until President Obama finally does step up and this year delivers to make good on his word. Cautiously optimistic, again to wait and see.