has done on this issue. he s argued from the beginning for equal legal rights, equal benefits. he s brought that policy to the federal government. he obviously thought long and hard to end the don t ask don t tell policy. it s been the policy of his administration as you know not to defend the cases moving forward because he thinks there are significant constitutional issues. and he supports the rights of states to make these decisions, as new york is doing probably even as we even as we speak. so there s been significant progress under his administration. and he s pointed the way forward on this issue. i understand i understand the sentiment that was expressed and i understand why. but let s understand the progress that we ve made on this issue. are you concerned with one of the things that dan choi points out there in his comment and others at net roots nation we re raising which is that issue of
the thief is now doing an aboutface on same sex marries, a policy was in the work to allow gay marriages once skrabd the don t ask don t tell policy. barbara starr join he s from the pentagon. what is behind the on again, off again stance from the navy? well, a lot of political pressure, frankly, randi. melting from congress about all of this. you re right, the navy issued a memo saying once don t ask don t tell is fully repealed later this year. they could in fact perform same-sex marriages or civil unions on military bases, that could have led to these types of ceremonies being performed at places like west point or the naval academy. but now after this brouhaha from yo congress, the navy and pentagon said stop, take another look at it and all of that has been
they unequivocally deny the false and inflammatory claims. they re an attempt malign them and are harmful to the progressive community. says jackson is an advocate for more aids research and ending the don t ask don t tell policy. bennett filed his complaint with the chicago commission on human relations, which investigates potential violations of city ordinances that prohibit discrimination. a chicago civil rights lawyer says they get complaints of anti-gay discrimination. there is no federal law against this, and that s why people go to the city commission to assert a claim for discrimination. reporter: bennett has appeared on the tom joyner radio show and on a chicago radio talk show using the same nickname. jackson s lawyers say they will cooperate fully with the investigation if the commission decides to pursue the case. then the next step is a hearing to review the evidence, chris. thank you.
repealed. there is a lot of good i did in the first terms. i need your help more than anybody going forward. we expect that to be the message here. we don t think any house member is going to draw a line in the sand and get angry at the president for what happened over the lame duck session. but there will be some of that reconciliation aspect here at this meeting. luke russert in cambridge, maryland, thank you. appreciate it. reporter: stay warm, thomas. i will. the military spent $200 million to enforce the don t ask don t tell policy from 2004 to 2009. now the government accountability office says for those six years it cost about $185 million to recruit and train replacements for troops dismissed because they were gay. that means each individual dismissal cost $52,800. administrative costs reached nearly $8 million. the new book simply titled o, a prostial novel which is an insider s profile of president obama and the 2008
i want to thank all of the patriots who are here today. all of them who were forced to hang up their uniforms as a result of don t ask, don t tell. but who never stopped fighting for this country and who rallied and who marched and fought for change. i want to thank everyone here who stood with them in that fight. because of these efforts, in the coming days we will begin the process laid out by this law. now, the old policy remains in effect until secretary gates, admiral mullen and i certify the military s readiness to implement the repeal and especially important for service members to remember that. but i ve spoken to every one of the service chiefs and they are all committed to implementing this change swiftly and efficiently. we are not going to be dragging our feet to get this done. [ applause ]