A Promise Kept: Honoring Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi
It’s not every day that we get to celebrate promises kept, yet that is exactly what we did in San Francisco on September 30, 2011, with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.
In 2010, in the midst of a celebration of Harvey Milk Day, then-Speaker Pelosi promised from the stage of the San Francisco LGBT Center that by Christmas, "Don’t Ask Don’t Tell" (DADT) would be a memory. As Chair of the SLDN Legislative Committee, I had mixed emotions about that promise. On the one hand, I knew all our strategies we had in place to achieve legislative repeal of DADT, and I have always loved Nancy Pelosi’s can-do attitude. But on the other hand, there was the U.S. Senate to navigate, and I well knew the dangers of end-of-session maneuvering in any legislative body.
But not to worry, the Speaker was good for her word. On the stage last week at the Center was a big photo of her enrolling the DADT repeal bill. It seems so long ago that we gave her a thunderous standing ovation in the Capitol when she enrolled that bill in December 2010, one of her last official acts as Speaker.
And again, we gave her a thunderous standing ovation in San Francisco last Friday, celebrating with her the passage of landmark and at last finally implementing this legislation that makes America better.
The celebration was sweet. State Senator Mark Leno, Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, City Treasurer Jose Cisneros, Supervisors David Campos and Scott Wiener, and former Supervisor Bevan Dufty stood with the crowd that day as they have always done, stalwart defenders of justice, tireless warriors for equality and freedom.
The crowd was excited and encompassed everone from gay World War II veterans to a young gay airman currently on active duty at Travis Air Force Base. Alexander Hamilton Post 448 of the America Legion was there in force. Many members of the powerful Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club board of directors were present. Faithful donors, activists, volunteers, and community members laughed and cheered and thanked the Leader. The atmosphere was electric and full of gratitude.
Leader Pelosi acknowledged the legion of equality fighters from the stage. Without the “outside game” of highly visible, highly vocal, highly effective public support and grassroots lobbying, Leader Pelosi said that the “inside” legislative strategies would not have worked. The victory in repealing DADT belongs to everyone who sent emails, marched, visited Congressional offices, donated money, signed petitions, posted messages online, or otherwise engaged in the battle. Graciously, the Leader to whom we all owe so much, included us all in her thanks.
In San Francisco on September 20, 2011, the day repeal became effective, a now-famous photo was taken in the Veterans Memorial Building. In the photo, U.S. Navy Commander (Ret.) Zoe Dunning hugs former Petty Officer Joseph Christopher Rocha in an emotional embrace. These two American heroes have given so much to the fight against DADT. They have become faces for repeal, with Zoe standing next to President Obama when he signed the Repeal of DADT into law. Joseph represents the young people for whom we fought. He is now in the midst of reaccession to become an officer in the Marine Corps.
The photo of Zoe and Joseph’s embrace ended up on the front page of the Washington Post. In a surprise move, Leader Pelosi brought copies of the Post for Zoe and Joseph to sign for her to be displayed in her office. The hometown crowd went wild.
On behalf of SLDN, US Navy Captain (Ret.) Bob Dockendorff presented a Leadership Award to the Honorable Nancy Pelosi. Post 448 Commander Mario Benefield presented the Leader with a Medal of Valor from the Alexander Hamilton Post. These will join the photo of Zoe and Joseph on the wall in the Leader’s office.
Ambassador Jim Hormel (who has a new book “Fit to Serve” coming out November 1, 2011) was on hand to make remarks about his close friend, Leader Pelosi. In his remarks, Ambassador Hormel, no stranger to fights for equality, reminded us that much work still needs to be done to secure equal rights for all. Leader Pelosi reinforced that we have an ongoing mission to ensure equality in America with the need for transgender equality in the armed forces, the end of DOMA, and a fully inclusive ENDA.
We celebrated a promise kept, one that makes America better. We heard Leader Pelosi make more promises from the same stage that equality is coming and it is coming soon. This time, no mixed emotions on whether we can get it done. We got it done on ending DADT, and we’ll get it done to bring equality and justice for all.
10-05-11 By Julian Chang, Member, SLDN Board of Directors |
