White House Meeting on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Fails to Inspire LGBTQ Bloggers

Yesterday, White House officials held a closed-door, off-the-record meeting with several advocates, bloggers, and organizations pushing for the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” (DADT), the 1993 law that prohibits open military service by gays and lesbians. Originally planned to take place with nearly 11 repeal advocates, senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett, and Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina, President Barack Obama also unexpectedly dropped into the meeting, according to sources.

But despite the administration’s efforts to soothe the LGBT community's concerns over DADT's repeal (or lack thereof), some LGBTQ bloggers continue to feel disillusioned.

Prolific LGBT political blogger Pam Spaulding wasn’t inspired by the meeting or the president’s stop-by. She wrote yesterday:

This is beyond predictable. "Just dropping by" is not something that just happens at the White House. There really is a sense of flopsweat in the air. At this rate the administration is going to bring in the Netroots to "shoot the breeze" with the big guy to try to save face with a week before the midterms.

Spaulding has been an outspoken critic of the Human Rights Campaign and administration officials. She says both the president and the national civil rights group continue to have no plan on DADT repeal and have failed to “deliver as promised.” She added, “That is something no one will forget. The ineptitude and lack of a plan, as well as the gross use of the LGBT community is just plain sad.”

Openly gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has also gone on the offensive against the administration's stalling on DADT. In an interview with Sirius XM’s OUT Q’s Michelangelo Signorile Show, Frank said the administration “hasn’t handled this well” and that he’s been disappointed by the lack of plan and action. Frank had urged the president not to appeal the Virginia Phillips’ ruling and injunction on DADT.

Other LGBT bloggers have similar feelings.AmericaBLOG’s John Aravosis said he was “speechless” at White House officials’ threats to keep talk away from current DADT litigation.

Nothing better illustrates the hubris the White House brings to its relations with its allies. Our civil rights representatives are invited to a key meeting on DADT, as part of the overall White House ‘charm offensive’ to win back the base before the elections, and the White House outright threatens our leaders.

The meeting’s guidelines were leaked early Tuesday, when an email from White House Office of Public Liaison Deputy Director Brian Bond was reported by both The Advocate and Washington Blade.

“Obviously this meeting has gotten out. We are expecting the content of the conversation today to be off the record and to help us figure out how to move forward with the lame duck session,” Bond wrote. “Also as previously mentioned, there can be no discussion of current court cases or legal strategy or Counsel’s Office will end the meeting. The focus is repeal and the lame duck session. This is also a non-partisan meeting where we want everyone’s help.”

A White House official later told the Blade that such guidelines were normal: “Some of the participants in the meeting are involved in active litigation against the government on the issue of "don’t ask, don’t tell," so it wouldn’t be appropriate to discuss that litigation,” the official said, on condition of anonymity. “This is standard procedure when there is pending litigation involving the government.”

At the meeting were: Aubrey Sarvis (Servicemembers Legal Defense Network); Joe Solmonese and Allison Herwitt (Human Rights Campaign); Shane Larson (National Stonewall Democrats); Winnie Stachelberg (Center for American Progress); R. Clarke Cooper (Log Cabin Republicans); Alex Nicholson and Jarrod Chlapowski (Servicemembers United); author and repeal advocate Nathaniel Frank, formerly of the Palm Center; and Jim Kessler (Third Way).

The Log Cabin Republicans and Nicholson are currently suing the government over DADT. Their case resulted in the seven-day injunction on DADT handed down by U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips earlier this month. That injunction has been stayed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the military is allowed to continue enforcing DADT.

MetroWeekly’s Chris Geidner reported the president’s appearance at the meeting was intended to stress his commitment to pushing for repeal in the Senate’s lame-duck session, reassure advocates of more meetings and participation as the vote neared and reiterate that certain executive options, such as a stop-loss order, are not being considered.

Matt Comer is a staff writer for Campus Progress.

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