Source: Philadelphia Gay News, Philadelphia Inquirer, Windy City Times
In an interview with Mark Segal of Philadelphia Gay News, Barack Obama said he would undertake a deliberate and careful process to fulfill his promise to do away with the "don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) policy for gays in the military.

The Democratic presidential candidate said that he would work through a step-by-step process with the military brass.

"The reason," Obama said, "is because I want to make sure that when we revert 'don't ask, don't tell,' it's gone through a process and we've built a consensus or at least a clarity of that, of what my expectations are, so that it works."

The DADT policy was adopted in 1993 under President Bill Clinton after he tried to do away with an older military ban on lesbian/gay service members. Clinton had wanted to let gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender individuals serve openly, but military brass and members of Congress complained about the change and instead insisted on the current policy under which military recruits are not supposed to be asked about their sexual orientation.

He said he would take the similarly measured steps on a range of other issues important to LGBT activists.

Although he called the the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act "an unnecessary encroachment by the federal government in an area traditionally reserved for the state," Obama said he would be reluctant to instruct his attorney general to go to court to try to overturn law, which denies federal recognition of same-sex marriages and gives states the right not to recognize such unions.

"I would want to review carefully any lawsuit that was filed. This is probably my carryover from being a constitutional lawyer," Obama said, in explaining his methodical approach.

"I think we're going to have to take a different approach," he said, "but I am absolutely committed to the concept [that] it is not necessary." He said he would prefer to see Congress change the law.

Obama pledged to make the protection of gays from imprisonment and torture in other countries part of his human-rights policy, calling it "not acceptable" to exclude such concerns from "our broader human-rights advocacy."

Segal's telephone interview was conducted Tuesday on behalf of the Gay History Project and appears in several gay newspapers this week. Segal writes that John McCain was invited to participate in a similar interview, but his campaign declined. "Since April, we have repeatedly reached out to Republican Sen. John McCain's press representative Jill Hazelbaker by phone, letter and e-mail," Segal writes.

Obama said that he does not believe that John McCain's campaign or independent groups would be able to use same-sex marriage as a wedge issue to drive voters to the polls this year.

"I think that the American peoples' attitudes with respect to LGBT issues are continuing to evolve," Obama said. "I think people are becoming more and more aware of the need to treat all people equally regardless of sexual orientation. There are some people who disagree with that, but frankly those folks—many of them—probably have already made their minds up about this election earlier."

Source: Obama: Go slower on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'| Philadelphia Inquirer
Exclusive PGN Interview with Democratic Presidential Nominee Sen. Barack Obama | Philadelphia Gay News [temp link]
EXCLUSIVE: Obama talks, McCain balks | Windy City Times