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President Barack Obama promised gay and lesbian activists Saturday he will repeal a ban on gays in the US military, rebuking complaints he has not honored his promises to fight for equal rights.
"I will end 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.' That's my commitment to you," Obama said at a rousing speech before some 3,000 activists.
"We should not be punishing patriotic Americans who have stepped forward to serve this country. We should be celebrating their willingness to show such courage and selflessness on behalf of their fellow citizens, especially when we're fighting two wars."
But he did not provide a timeline for repealing the 1993 law, which requires gays and lebians to keep quiet about their sexual orientation or face expulsion. More than 12,000 US service members have been discharged under the policy.
Obama has extended partial federal benefits to same-sex partners of US government workers but he is under pressure from activists to deliver on his campaign promise to repeal the ban, a hot-button social issue in the United States.
"This is also a time of great impatience," said Human Rights Campaign (HRC) president Joe Solmonese, noting that thousands of gay men and women are expected to descend on Washington Sunday for a National Equality March.
His group, the nation's biggest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights organization, organized Saturday's dinner.
But in a rebuke to Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, Solmonese stressed: "We should not confuse the work and the progress of the past 10 months with the delays, excuses and sometimes hateful rhetoric of the past 10 years."
US National Security Adviser James Jones, a retired general, said last week that the president would take on the military's gay ban "at the appropriate time."
But he cautioned that Obama has "an awful lot" on his plate, as US troops remain bogged down in Afghanistan and Iraq while the young US administration faces pitched battles over health care reform and economic recovery.
"Despite the real gains that we've made, there are still laws to change and there are still hearts to open," Obama acknowledged, calling "painful and heartbreaking" the bias some continue to hold against gays.
"This story, this fight continues now. And I'm here with a simple message: I'm here with you in that fight," said the president, as the crowd burst into cheers that echoed throughout the Washington Convention Center.
Hate crimes legislation extending protection to the LGBT community has passed the House of Representatives and could reach the president's desk for signing into law in the coming weeks after it is approved by the Senate.
