Thanks, Allan. I had a feeling it might be you that mentioned it. Excuse the long cut and paste, but I think it’s worth taking a look at and reproducing most of it here:
... this is directly from the White House:
Our first hope is that we will get our federal house in order and ensure that no discrimination exists in the federal work place against any of the LGBT community. [Note: This presumably pertains to the fact that transgender workers are still not protected by the federal government’s nondiscrimination policy, though gay employees are covered.]
Second, we want to make sure that we get the benefits for the LGBT community that are equal to all other benefits provided to other federal employees, and where we have the authority to move forward, the president is going to be announcing something in the very near future that is going to be a very significant announcement in that regard. Where it requires legislation, we will seek and support it.
We have four broad legislative goals that we want to accomplish and legislation is one of these things where you’ve got to move when the opportunity strikes, so I’m going to list them in an order but it’s not necessarily going to go one, two, three, four. Obviously, I think the first opportunity is hate crimes and we’re hopeful that we can get that passed this week. We’re going to try, but if not, we’re going to keep at it until we get it passed. The second one ENDA, we want to secure that passage of ENDA, and third is we want to repeal legislatively “don’t ask don’t tell,” and fourth, we want to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.
Now, I’m not going to pledge—and nor is the president—that this is going to be done by some certain date. The pledge and the promise is that, this will be done before the sun sets on this administration - our goal is to have this entire agenda accomplished and enacted into law so that it is secure.
The Advocate: Does that include a second term? A lot of people have talked about DOMA being pushed back until a second term.
Berry: I say this in a broad sense—our goal is to get this done on this administration’s watch.
Finally, I want to talk to you about the DOMA brief. Our strongest argument against “don’t ask, don’t tell” is that we stand with the truth. And that we, more than anyone, know the cost of lying and the terrible pain it invokes.
This president took a solemn oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and he does not get to decide and choose which laws he enforces. He has to enforce the laws that have been enacted appropriately and that he has inherited. It would be wrong for me or any of our community to advise him to lie or to shirk his responsibility. He’s doing his job. He has made clear that he stands for the repeal of DOMA. It will be part of this administration’s agenda to accomplish that act. We ought not waste energy and angst attacking him when we should be focusing the energy and effort on getting 218 votes in the house and 60 votes in the Senate, and that’s where we ought to target the energy and the strength of this community and this president is with us, this is our agenda and it’s his agenda.
I certainly believe that and I’ve discussed this now with senior advisors in the White House—it is clear that there’s unanimity on this. And this charge that somehow there’s some secret deal going on or something behind the scenes—there is nothing. This is as simple and straightforward as I can be and this administration can be, and we will work with anybody to advance this agenda.
The Advocate: One of the things that people are concerned about is that it’s been rumored that at the White House round table meeting with LGBT leaders, administration officials indicated that DOMA would wait until a second term.
Berry: I was at that meeting with Jim Messina and Brian Bond and all the groups. Nobody said that—I did not hear DOMA in the second term. It’s clear that we want to accomplish these things on this administration’s watch. We hope we get eight years, but if we’re limited to four, we’re still going to try to pursue this agenda. I was there for the entire meeting, start to finish. Nobody said second term, nobody is crazy enough to presume that we get a second term - the American people decide whether we get a second term.
The Advocate: And what about “don’t ask, don’t tell,” is that being pushed back?
Berry: We don’t have the votes to do Hate Crimes right now, we don’t have the votes to do ENDA, how are we going [to get “don’t ask, don’t tell]?
The Advocate: Understood that “don’t ask, don’t tell” is a heavier lift, but there’s still no Senate repeal bill with which to start lobbying on and building support.
Berry: We’re going to have to - there’s a lot of good support there - [Senators] Lieberman and Collins - a lot of people, I think, are going to be willing to help. I believe that that energy is going to come together. This administration has got some really smart people, and we’re going to work together to do this right and do it in a way that’s going to last.
http://www.advocate.com/Politics/Washington_D_C_/Ber ry__Hate_Crimes_May_Pass_Next_Week/
