Martin Thomas Meehan

“ Mr. MEEHAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in honor of Coretta Scott King, wife of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and a guiding force of the modern civil rights movement in her own right.
Just seventeen days ago we honored the birthday of her husband and celebrated January 16th as a national holiday in his honor. It would be too easy to remember Mrs. King simply as the wife of Dr. King, one of this country's great 20th century leaders. To do this would be a disservice to the memory of a champion of civil and equal rights in her own right. ”

“ Today, SLDN is the Nation's leading advocacy organization dedicated to repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and ensuring open service in our armed forces. Through tenacity and strong leadership, the organization has made significant steps forward in breaking down the barrier that bans gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military. The gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community looks to SLDN as a model for accomplishing policy change. ”

“ This law has resulted in the discharge of more than 11,000 service members from our Armed Forces, at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. It is an affront to the patriotism and talent of the over one million lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans estimated to have served in our nation's Armed Forces to date. ”