Political Quotes

“In 1857, just down the hall, the Supreme Court, which met in this building at the time, decided Dred Scott, in which they said that a black American was not entitled to the rights of the Constitution promised to all men. The good news is that over the years this institution has done the right thing--civil rights legislation, any number of things--to expiate that sin, but 17 years ago this body passed legislation which discriminated against our soldiers that said if you are gay, you can't serve your country; that regardless of how much we spent to train you, regardless of how critical your expertise is to keeping this country safe, you cannot serve your country. A report came out yesterday which indicates that there is, at most, a negligible threat, a negligible problem if we get rid of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Now is the time to fix that sin of 17 years ago and say to gay Americans that if you're patriotic enough to serve this country, we welcome you in the armed services. I urge the Senate to act to repeal this act and to really get us closer to our founding creed.”