Obama’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ pledge leaves some ‘disheartened and discouraged’

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With two sentences voiced near the end of a State of the Union address that ran nearly an hour and nine minutes long, President Obama has reopened a debate that many, but not all, are ready to have.

‘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. ‘It’s the right thing to do.’’

That means repealing ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’’ the formal policy of the American military that allows gay and lesbian members of the armed forces to serve so long as they keep their sexual orientation to themselves.

But for advocates of repealing the policy, the president’s promise -- a reiteration of a campaign pledge -- prompts another phrase: ‘Don’t wait, don’t delay.’’

That’s Lt. Dan Choi’s response to the president’s promise. ‘I served in the Army for a decade under ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ -- an immoral policy that forces American soldiers to lie about their sexual orientation,’’ Choi wrote in a May 2009 letter to the president. ‘Worse, it forces others to tolerate deception. As I learned at West Point, deception and lies poison a unit and cripple a fighting force.’’

But he decided this: ‘I refuse to lie to my commanders. I refuse to lie to my peers. I refuse to lie to my subordinates.’’

Choi is part of a ‘Courage Campaign’’ calling for repeal of a policy that has forced many, including many decorated soldiers, out of the service. Choi risked his career in March 2009 when he made an appearance on MSNBC’s ‘The Rachel Maddow Show’ and declared: ‘I am gay.’’ The infantry officer, Iraq combat veteran and West Point graduate with a degree in Arabic -- all attributes that would seem in high demand these days -- faces discharge from the Army.

Maddow had someone else on her show last night after Obama delivered his State of the Union address: Air Force Lt. Col Victor Fehrenbach, a decorated F-15 pilot and 19-year veteran who has flown 88 combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and who faces a pending discharge.

It was ‘positive’’ that Obama said he planned on addressing the issue this year, Fehrenbach said. ‘But overall I could say that tonight I was just as disheartened and discouraged as I’ve been every other time that we’ve heard these words... What I really wanted to hear tonight was a plan of action, was a timetable of some kind.... I just didn’t hear that tonight. So hopefully, maybe over the next couple of weeks we will hear that.’’

Valerie Jarrett, a senior Obama advisor and close friend of the president, also spoke with Maddow and suggested, as the MSNBC show host noted, that ‘in days and weeks we will be hearing about the plan.’’

Obama pledged to repeal ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’’ during the presidential race and reiterated the promise in an address as president to the Human Rights Campaign, Maddow noted, but an estimated 600 members of the military have been forced out under the policy since Obama took office last January. Fehrenbach, the Air Force pilot who appeared on Maddow’s show last night, got his warning in September 2008.

-- Mark Silva