About the Convention Tonight, and Against “Conventional” Wisdom

Tonight, Barack Obama —half black, half white—steps up to the podium in Denver to accept the nomination of the Democratic Party for President of The United States.

Whether by coincidence or not, his acceptance speech comes exactly 45 years to the day after Martin Luther King Jr. gave his momentous, unforgettable “I Have a Dream” speech.

Yesterday, here in Texas, we celebrated the day when another civil rights champion, President Lyndon Baines Johnson, would have celebrated his 100th birthday.

What a confluence of circumstances. What a perfect political and civil rights storm.

No doubt, Barack Obama will address Martin Luther King’s “Dream”: how much of it has come true, but also how much still awaits to be realized.

A little over a month ago, we celebrated another anniversary. July 26 marked the 60th anniversary of the end of segregation in our armed forces. On that occasion, I wrote a post “Two Anniversaries, Two Presidential Candidates’ Positions,” commenting on another “coincidence” of anniversaries: the aforementioned 60th anniversary and the fact that it was 15 years since President Bill Clinton signed a law that came to be known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t tell,” a policy that prohibits openly gay individuals from serving in the military.

At the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the integration of our armed forces, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said:

Our commemoration today of the racial integration of the armed forces makes us reflect on how far we have come toward living up to our founding ideals and yet how much remains to be done.

and,

We must make sure the American military continues to be a great engine of progress and equality.

Since then, in my posts, I have urged Mr. Gates and other U.S. leaders to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to the civil rights of our gay and lesbian military members.

Since then, some have commented that one should “cool it,” have patience on this issue; that “nobody wants this shoved down our throats…”, or “can’t you wait until January?” Some consider such “don’t rock the boat” attitude as safe, conventional wisdom.

Perhaps. But, also perhaps, if Martin Luther King, Cesar Chavez, Rosa Parks, and so many others had listened to the same “conventional wisdom,” and “cooled it,” “had patience,” or “waited until January,” we might still be waiting for parts of that “Dream” to come true.

So, let me go against “Conventional Wisdom” and urge Barack Obama to, tonight, address not only the broad issue of discrimination based on sexual orientation, but also reaffirm his previous statement of policy with regard to “Don’t ask, Don’t tell.”:

I agree with former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili and other military experts that we need to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. I will work with military leaders to repeal the current policy and ensure it helps accomplish our national defense goals.

Then we “can wait until January” 09.