Democratic Congressman from Massachusetts

Over the past two weeks, President Obama and leading members of his administration have earned the gratitude of all of us who oppose unfair discrimination in their repudiation of the policy that has refused to allow many patriotic gay and lesbian Americans to serve in our country's military, and which has denigrated and degraded the service of many others.

For some time, it has been acknowledged by military leaders that the policy of denying gay and lesbian military personnel the ability to be honest about who they are was in no way based on any deficiency in their service. Twenty years ago, then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Colin Powell acknowledged that the ban did not reflect any problem with the dedication or ability of those servicemembers who had been so highly motivated to serve their country that they did so in the face of a discriminatory policy aimed specifically at them. Unfortunately, at that time, neither man was prepared to repudiate this form of discrimination, even while effectively acknowledging that there were no fair reasons for it.

As he promised in his campaign, President Obama has led the way in reversing this shameful pattern of condoning the mistreatment of gay and lesbian Americans who wish to serve our country. And his strong words in the State of the Union Speech were supported admirably by the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

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