Reflecting on the Ceremony

Exuberant. That’s the only adjective to describe the mood of Wednesday’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal bill signing ceremony with President Barack Obama at the Department of Interior in Washington, D.C. (the invite list dwarfed East Room capacity at the White House, thus the alternative location). With nearly 18 years of a discriminatory and insidious policy now off the books — and headed into the all-important period of Pentagon repeal implementation — we asked ceremony attendees of note what December 22, 2010, ultimately means for them.

"I had no doubt that this day would happen. And as far as all the naysayers go, we just took them down and out-worked them. I used to jump out of airplanes for a living, so I was always confident that my chute was going to open up. Paratroopers don’t quit." —Pennsylvania representative Patrick Murphy, who sponsored repeal legislation in the House of Representatives