Looking Forward

I said before that I was optimistic about the term of Secretary Kerry because he is one of us. He was raised as a Foreign Service brat because his dad was a diplomat. So in many ways, he gets us more than someone from outside the Service might.

But his exit from the Senate Sunday gave me another reason to be optimistic. In his closing remarks, he said:

"We've made huge strides in turning the page on gay rights. In 1993, I testified before Strom Thurmond's Armed Services Committee pushing to lift the ban on gays serving in the military, and I ran into a world of misperceptions. I thought I was on a Saturday Night Live skit. Today at last, that policy is gone forever, and we are a country that honors the commitment of all who are willing to fight and die for our country. We've gone from a Senate that passed DOMA over my objections to one that just welcomed its first openly gay senator."

You can watch the video here.