Q There's The Wall Street Journal report that President Obama wants
to include civil unions to be counted in the census. Can you talk
about that? Is that something the President wants?
GIBBS: Well, I think, obviously, as we've discussed, the President
and the administration are committed to a fair and accurate count of
all Americans. And as the piece said, we're in the midst of
determining the best way to ensure that gay and lesbian couples are
accurately counted.
Q And just to follow up on John Berry's call that we had the other
day when the President signed the memorandum, he talked about the need
for a specific number of votes to fulfill the President's campaign
promise of repealing "don't ask, don't tell" and the Defense of
Marriage Act, and he kept saying 60 votes in the Senate. But is the
White House talking to Republicans that might favor the repeal of
this? I know there are a few.
GIBBS: Yes, look, I think the administration — well, obviously,
for math purposes, we're going to have to have a coalition of people
that believe, on each of those interests, that the policy isn't serving
our nation well. And the President is committed to making progress on
both of those issues.
