President Barack Obama on Thursday told
supporters attending a gay fundraiser that at least three Marines
recently thanked him for repealing “Don't Ask, Don't Tell.”
“Don't Ask, Don't Tell” is the
policy that barred gay and bisexual troops from serving openly. The
policy officially ended on September 20.
The president made his remarks while
attending a fundraiser held in the home of Karen Dixon and Dr. Nan
Schaffer of Washington, D.C.
According to a White House pool report,
roughly 40 people attended the fundraiser, which raised $1,432,000
for the Obama for America campaign.
Obama was introduced by Laura Ricketts,
the openly gay owner of the Chicago Cubs.
“The work that we've done with the
LGBT community, I think, is just profoundly American,” he told the
crowd.
On DADT, Obama said that none of the
warnings of opponents have come to pass.
“Because we did it methodically –
since it happened, nothing's happened,” he said. “There hasn't
been any notion of erosion in unit cohesion.”
He added that while in Hawaii he worked
out at the Marine base, where at least three Marines thanked him for
ending the policy.
“At least three times that I was at
that gym, people came up, very quietly, to say, you know what, thank
you for ending 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.'”
“I didn't even know whether or not
they were gay or lesbian. I didn't ask. That wasn't the point. The
point was these were outstanding Marines who appreciated the fact
that everybody was going to be treated fairly.”