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President Barack Obama ends ban on openly gay U.S. military service
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| Contributor | Brandonius Maximus |
| Last Edited | Brandonius Maximus Jul 23, 2011 11:45am |
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| Category | News |
| Author | Associated Press |
| Media | Newspaper - New Orleans Times-Picayune |
| News Date | Saturday, July 23, 2011 05:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | The ban on gays in the military has stood for nearly a century.
In 60 days, after decades of discharges, lawsuits and lobbying, that will change.
On Friday, President Barack Obama fulfilled a 2008 campaign pledge and formally ended the ban. After meeting with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the president certified to Congress that repealing the ban would not jeopardize the military's ability to fight.
"As commander in chief, I have always been confident that our dedicated men and women in uniform would transition to a new policy in an orderly manner that preserves unit cohesion, recruitment, retention and military effectiveness," Obama said in a statement. "Service members will no longer be forced to hide who they are in order to serve our country."
Friday's milestone was expected to be reached under the repeal law Congress passed in December. But homosexuality has been prohibited in the military since World War I, and for years recruits were screened and questioned about their sexual orientation.
Then-President Bill Clinton relaxed the law a bit in 1993, saying the military could not ask whether service members were gay. Gay service members could be discharged only if their sexual orientation became known. That policy became known as "don't ask, don't tell." |
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