Dear Mr.

President:

Years from now, students of the movement for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality (LGBT) will no
doubt see this fall as a pivotal period in the history of our struggle for fundamental fairness.  In January, we
were all inspired by your State of the Union pledge to end our nation’s discriminatory ban on open service by
gays and lesbians.  Equally inspiring was the testimony in support of repealing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law
by the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  We have come so far, but the only
true measure of success is whether the thousands of brave gay and lesbian Americans who are serving their
country, and the many more who want to serve their country, can do so openly and honestly.  We have not yet
met that goal, and without your leadership and unparalleled efforts, this historic opportunity to remove a stain of
discrimination from our nation will pass all of us by.  

Last week, lawyers for your administration asked for an emergency stay from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Ninth Circuit, seeking to end a worldwide injunction of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law while they work to
overturn a federal judge’s conclusion that this law – one that you have called discriminatory and contrary to our
national security on many occasions – offends the protections of our Constitution.  I continue to struggle with
how your administration can defend a law you oppose, and how it could be even remotely constitutional for a
statute to single out one group of brave Americans, because of who they are and who they love, and order
them serve in silence and deception.  How can our government have a duty to defend a statute that is clearly
so contrary to our Constitution’s guarantee of equality for all?  

The Ninth Circuit’s decision to stay Judge Phillips’s decision further frustrates repeal advocates and puts a
bright spotlight on you to reconcile this endless legal wrangling with your public promise to end “Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell.”  While we continue to call on your Administration not to appeal, if the Justice Department does
insist on defending this discriminatory law, I strongly urge you to instruct government lawyers to inform the
appellate court that the Executive Branch believes that the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law is unconstitutional. I
agree with the esteemed lawyer and former head of the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice,
Walter Dellinger, that such a move would send the Ninth Circuit a critically important message.   

Furthermore, the litigation strategy challenging “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is made all the more critical by the
challenges a legislative repeal has faced in Congress.  While the House approved repeal by a wide margin, the
Senate’s first and second attempts to move forward on the critical Defense Authorization bill were stymied by
Republican obstructionists looking to score political points before the midterm elections.  There is still an
opportunity for the Senate to send the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” to your desk in the lame duck session,
but it will not happen if you do not put the full weight of the Office of the President of the United States behind
it.  Republican opponents would rather see the Defense Authorization and everything in it – military pay raises,
critical armor and equipment for our troops, health coverage for their families on the home front – fail than let
gays and lesbians serve their country openly.  This is an outrageous insult to our troops, to their Commander-
in-Chief, and to the Defense Department charged with their operations and their care.  You and Secretary
Gates must be full partners in making clear to Senators that it is doubly unacceptable to hold hostage the
needs of every soldier, sailor, airman and Marine in a desperate attempt to preserve a law that flies in the face
of the American ideals they sacrifice to protect every day.  

It is because “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is contrary to our core values as a nation that it must end.  And we must
have a durable solution – legislative repeal or a solid judicial decision.  But if those fail, you must not allow
another day to go by in which a brave gay or lesbian service member is discharged based simply on sexual
orientation.  HRC has urged your administration, privately and publicly, for more than a year to use every tool at
your disposal as Chief Executive to at least significantly reduce discharges, if not end them entirely.  More can
be done in this regard. 

You can and should issue a stop-loss order suspending enforcement of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”  This
discriminatory law has already deprived our military thousands of service members, many with critical skills in
fighting terrorism.  You have acknowledged that it harms our national security.  If we fail to achieve legislative
repeal this year, and if you will not abandon the defense of this discriminatory law in court, then it is imperative
that you use your clear authority as President to end the discharges.  Anything less is unacceptable.     

We have fought long and hard to get this close to ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”  We pledge to continue that
fight, every step of the way, until this unjust law is gone for good.  Future generations will look back at this
moment – we must not let it become a setback in the long march toward full equality, but instead make it the
turning point it is poised to become.  

Sincerely,

Joe Solmonese                                                
President