President Barack Obama scored a major political victory when the Congress ended the ban for openly gay persons to serve in the US military. He will put his signature on the draft next week, thus making it into a law.
This ends a long tradition of discrimination in the ranks of the military. Despite the victory, Defense Secretary Robert Gates advised military gays to keep to the old policy for a while longer, until the new rules are put into place and the mechanisms for enforcing the new anti-discrimination policy will be available.
In a statement, Barack Obama said that with the ban repealed, patriotic men and women in the US will no longer be denied military service nor will those already enrolled be facing forced leave based on their sexual orientation.
The new law gathered 65 votes against 31 in the Senate, thus ending the 17-year ban. The Democrats have been pushing for a vote on the controversial law for this session, before the Republicans, which do not support lifting the ban, take over control of the House of Representatives in January.
Gay men and women were allowed to serve in the military as long as they did not disclose their sexual orientation, after Bill Clinton pushed the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law in 1993.
Under that law, more than 13,000 people were forced to leave the military once their sexual orientation became known. A Pentagon report showed that a wide majority of the US military was not against cancelling the ban. Many of those who were forced to leave the military ranks because of their choice of life said that they are considering returning to service.
Gay rights movements in the US see the lifting of the ban as a huge victory and they will continue to fight for equal treatment. However, despite the huge victory, implementing the change will take some time.