Obama Sends Handwritten Letter to Gay Soldier Ousted From the Military Promising to Repeal DADT

Posted by Satyam Khanna, Think Progress at 7:33 AM on May 8, 2009.

Good news from Obama about Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

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In January, Sandy Tsao, an army officer based out of St. Louis, MO, told her superiors that she is gay — a violation of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell law. Tsao then wrote to President Obama, urging him to change the DADT policy: “I do hope, Mr. President, that you will help us to win the war against prejudice.” On May 5, Tsao received a handwritten letter from Obama with a pledge to repeal DADT at some point:

In the letter, Obama wrote that he is “committed to changing our current policy” but that “it will take some time to complete (partly because it needs Congressional action).” Yesterday, Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA), who has sponsored legislation repealing DADT, discussed the issue with Rachel Maddow, saying, “I’d like to see us move it by this summer, and I think we can.”

Tagged as: military, dadt, lgbt rights

Satyam Khanna is a Research Associate for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress.

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Joe Sestack for Senator [Report this comment] Posted by: sabrina on May 9, 2009 5:44 AM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] All the more reason to vote Sestak for Senator. Compare this principaled stand to Arlene Specter changing his policies when the wind changes direction. Richard [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] Joe Sestack for Senator [Report this comment] Posted by: sabrina on May 9, 2009 5:44 AM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] All the more reason to vote Sestak for Senator. Compare this principaled stand to Arlene Specter changing his policies when the wind changes direction. Richard [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] contact the president [Report this comment] Posted by: techcafe on May 10, 2009 8:41 AM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] albeit brief, it's remarkable that Obama actually took a few moments to pen a personal reply to this soldier. would Bush have even bothered to even read such a letter, nevermind reply? i seriously doubt it. a hand-written letter from the president, and thoughtful at that, along with a promise to 'fulfill my commitment' is quite encouraging, i'd say. maybe even more people should set aside a few contemplative moments to contact the president with their ideas & concerns? [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] daierliy [Report this comment] Posted by: nonyio on May 23, 2009 1:47 AM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] Welcome to your visit ~, we are the best wow power leveling and Warhammer Online Power Leveling team game. Here we offer wow gold and Warhammer Gold service. We are here to provide the world's most high-quality, most affordable, safest, most efficient and wow powerleveling service Warhammer Power Leveling. Of course, if you need such as: Warhammer Online Gold are world of warcraft gold and MapleStory Mesos and AOC Power Leveling service, we can provide you with. In addition, we have the following list of services: For example, AGE OF CONAN Power Leveling service, such as Maple Story Mesos and MS Mesos services. For example, SilkRoad Gold, and SilkRoad Online Gold as well as the SRO Gold services. There EVE ISK and EVE Online ISK services of gold, of course, that in addition to these businesses, we also need to provide a Gaia Gold and Wotlk power leveling services, as well as AOC Gold and AGE OF CONAN Gold services, as well as the Gold LOTRO Gold and Lord of the Rings Online Gold of Gold service, of course, the most important thing is to provide our WAR Power leveling and business WAR Gold,We also provide wow powerleveling, and at the same time there is world of warcraft powerleveling of all related businesses. We are waiting for your arrival here you will get the service you want. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

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