Video: President Obama at HRC dinner: “My commitment to you in unwavering to you … I will end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”

President Barack Obama at last night’s Human Rights Campaign dinner in Washington DC made this wow: “I will end ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.”

He did not offer a time-table for ending the policy that prevents people serving in the military from being openly gay.

Said the president: “We should not be punishing patriotic Americans who have stepped forward to serve the country,” he said. “We should be celebrating their willingness to step forward and show such courage … especially when we are fighting two wars.”

While acknowledging Obama that “our progress may be taking longer than you’d like,” he asked the crowd to trust his administration’s course: “I also appreciate that many of you don’t believe progress has come fast enough. Do not doubt the direction we are heading and the destination we will reach.”

Here is video of Obama’s HRC speech in its entirety and some excerpts in text form:

Now, I’ve said this before, I’ll repeat it again — it’s not for me to tell you to be patient, any more than it was for others to counsel patience to African Americans petitioning for equal rights half a century ago. (Applause.) But I will say this: We have made progress and we will make more. And I think it’s important to remember that there is not a single issue that my administration deals with on a daily basis that does not touch on the lives of the LGBT community.

I know you want me working on jobs and the economy and all the other issues that we’re dealing with. But my commitment to you is unwavering even as we wrestle with these enormous problems. And while progress may be taking longer than you’d like as a result of all that we face — and that’s the truth — do not doubt the direction we are heading and the destination we will reach. (Applause.)
My expectation is that when you look back on these years, you will see a time in which we put a stop to discrimination against gays and lesbians — whether in the office or on the battlefield. (Applause.) You will see a time in which we as a nation finally recognize relationships between two men or two women as just as real and admirable as relationships between a man and a woman. (Applause.)

It is no secret that issues of great concern to gays and lesbians are ones that raise a great deal of emotion in this country. And it’s no secret that progress has been incredibly difficult — we can see that with the time and dedication it took to pass hate crimes legislation. But these issues also go to the heart of who we are as a people.

Are we a nation that can transcend old attitudes and worn divides? Can we embrace our differences and look to the hopes and dreams that we share? Will we uphold the ideals on which this nation was founded: that all of us are equal, that all of us deserve the same opportunity to live our lives freely and pursue our chance at happiness? I believe we can; I believe we will. (Applause.)