Defense Secretary Gates to Gays: Wait!

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was on Fox News Sunday yesterday and answered a question about the repeal of DADT, which President Obama has supported. His response is, to put it politely, less than what we would expect.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hj0mIylZBA[/youtube]

A similar response was given by Vermont’s Governor Douglas last week on the timing of marriage equality rights. Just wait until this other thing is under control and then we’ll get back to you, unless something else comes up.

By coincidence, I was going through old posts Saturday afternoon, and when I first saw Secretary Gates’ response this morning I immediately thought of the words Dr. King wrote from a jail in Birmingham, Alabama.

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was “well timed” in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”

“Wait!” doesn’t work. We know this from the experience of African Americans. We know this from the experience of women. We even know this from our own experience.

My answer to Secretary Gates: NO. At least not willingly, not quietly, and not patiently.

You don’t get to decide, Secretary Gates, when to give us what has been stolen from us. You don’t get to decide that we’d best just sit in the corner and wait patiently like good little boys and girls. You don’t get to negotiate the acknowledgment of our rights.

If there’s one silver lining we can take from this, maybe we can read this is an indication that we’re getting somewhere. In both Governor Douglas’ and Secretary Gates’ comments, they aren’t telling us that rights aren’t due, just that the timetable for handing over those rights is negotiable. I get the impression that they expect us to be thankful for that. Our response to them, whether it be about marriage equality, DADT, or any other issue, must be an emphatic and uniform NO.

The rest of Dr. King’s letter, which is now and always relevant to the cause of justice, can be found in the aptly titled book Why We Can’t Wait.