warning Hi, we've moved to USCANNENBERGMEDIA.COM. Visit us there!

Neon Tommy - Annenberg digital news

Protesters Challenge Obama's Handling Of Don't Ask Don't Tell

Andrew Khouri |
October 22, 2010 | 11:48 a.m. PDT

Staff Reporter

Don't Ask Don't Tell protest. Photo by Mary Slosson.
Don't Ask Don't Tell protest. Photo by Mary Slosson.
Protesters greeted thousands of Obama supporters Friday morning, angry about the president’s handling of the policy barring gays from openly serving in the military. 

Eight members of Get Equal, a gay and lesbian equality group, stood quietly behind signs as students and others streamed onto the campus of the University of Southern California. 

“I am really tired of becoming a political punching bag,” Ellen Sturtz said, standing behind a sign that read “Stop The Discharges Now.”

Sturtz, who is a lesbian, said the Obama administration should not have appealed a lower court’s ruling that declared Don’t Ask Don’t Tell unconstitutional. On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit temporarily reinstated the policy while it considers the administration’s appeal.

“I really want to make sure that President Obama realizes that some of the promises he made early on in his campaign and even in the first year, he hasn’t kept them,” she said.

Geoffrey Farrow, a former Catholic priest who said he was kicked out of the church after he spoke out against Proposition 8 from the pulpit, chided the president, and compared the current debate over Don’t Ask Don’t Tell to the racial integration of the military.

“Remember your promises, President Obama,” he said.

 

Reporting contributed by Mary Slosson.

Reach reporter Andrew Khouri here.



 

Buzz

Craig Gillespie directed this true story about "the most daring rescue mission in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard.”

Watch USC Annenberg Media's live State of the Union recap and analysis here.

 
ntrandomness