Congressman Quigley Salutes LGBT Veterans at Daley Plaza Event

Congressman Mike Quigley website ^ | August 5, 2009 | Mike Quigley

[chicagolady]

CHICAGO – Today, Congressman Mike Quigley (D-IL) saluted veterans from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities at “With Liberty and Justice For All” - the nation’s only municipally-sponsored, military salute to LGBT veterans. As one of his first acts in Congress, Quigley issued a statement calling for the repeal of the U.S. military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. An emerging national advocate for the LGBT community, Quigley has cosponsored over a dozen bills that work toward equality during his first 100 days in office.

During his remarks and presentation, Congressman Quigley recalled his recent trip to Iraq and saluted the veterans for their admirable “commitment to a country that doesn’t yet honor [their] commitment to one another.”

The full text of the Congressman’s speech is as follows:

Thank you for having me here today.

It’s a pleasure to spend some time at home in Chicago and see so many familiar faces.

It’s a true honor to serve in the United States Congress, and I’ll never forget that I wouldn’t be there without you.

I’d like to thank Mayor Daley, Commissioner Starks, Luke Visconti, Bill Greaves, Jim Darby and the many others who helped make this historic salute possible.

As many of you know, Mayor Daley stood up for this community and human rights before hardly anyone else did, and has continued his commitment to doing what’s right for decades.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

I was sworn into Congress in April of this year, and after 100 days in office now, have been proud to sponsor over a dozen bills that work toward real equality for the LGBT community.

I wrote President Obama to encourage him to include same-sex marriages in the 2010 census;

I am a member of the Congressional Equality Caucus;

[chicagolady]

Mike Quigley, My Congressman

[rovenstinez]

Chicago. A cancerous city of America.

[chicagolady]

Thanks for your kind words.

I thought we were more like a Plague

[a fool in paradise]

How many transexual veterans are there? Did the State pay for their surgery?

[smokingfrog]

OMG! It's the world famous 69th LGBT Division.
Surrender now!

[Gay State Conservative]

I’ll wager that they *particularly* enjoy hand-to-hand “combat”.

[Pavel Dolot]

Haha totally. I like how the dims hate real soldiers, but jump at the chance to salute some fag soldier. Or “trans” gender or whatever.

This whole repeal DADT crowed is pretty stupid. Why aren’t women allowed to shower nude and live with male soldiers? Gosh I have no idea! If these gay guys want to be women so bad, they should be treated like women.

I mean, how ridiculous would it be if some lady Marine were to say “oh I want to live/shower with the guys”. Even dims would be saying “oh no no”. Or maybe they wouldn’t haha, it would depend on whether the woman was a minority or not I guess.