Rachel Maddow Challenges Obama On Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: ‘Stand Up For What Is Right’

The Huffington Post

8.12.10

Please watch the clips from The Rachel Maddow Show last night. It is a stark reminder that the lives of American men and women serving our country continue to be put in danger because some of our most talented platoon leaders are being dismissed by their Commander in Chief, President Obama. Just yesterday Jonathan Hopkins, who was fourth in his class at West Point, served three tours of duty and was about to be promoted to Major, received his discharge papers. He was outed. This is a policy that has nothing to do with a person’s actual ability to do the job, but rather something they are born with. Have African Americans or women lessened unit cohesion? No. It’s no different for gays and this has been established. Yet despite Obama’s promise to repeal a policy that requires people to lie about who they are and go against what they are taught at military academies, he is still firing people like Officer Dan Choi, Lieutenant Colonel Victor Fehrenbach and now Captain Hopkins. The repeal is not a done deal and we must continue to demand that action be taken, not assuming that it is a mere formality.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/12/rachel-maddow-challenges_n_680002.html