Evan Bayh: “The institution, he said simply is not working.”

Only Congress could come up with a situation like this where you have to give your recommendations about implementation of the rule.

In all likelihood there were gay Americans serving at Valley Forge, there were gay Americans at Gettysburg, there were gay Americans on Normandy Beach, there are gay Americans serving in Iraq and Afghanistan today.

The reason for the study, as I recall, was that many of us understood that there was a potential risk here that probably had to be dealt with.

These men and women will be the builders who will be responsible for taking abstract concepts and turning them into a reality.