DADT Repeal: Pentagon Says It's Ready For End Of Gay Military Ban

By ROBERT BURNS, Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The military has begun accepting applications from openly gay recruits but will not act on them until the legal ban on openly gay service is lifted Tuesday, says a Pentagon official.

Pentagon press secretary George Little said Monday that the military is adequately prepared for the end of the current policy, commonly known as "don't ask, don't tell," under which gays can serve as long as they don't openly acknowledge their sexual orientation and commanders are not allowed to ask.

"No one should be left with the impression that we are unprepared. We are prepared for repeal," Little said.

Last week, the Pentagon said 97 percent of the military has undergone training in the new law.

The ban will end at one minute after midnight. At that time, revised Defense Department regulations will take effect, to reflect the new law that will allow gays to serve openly.

President Barack Obama signed the law last December, and in July he certified that lifting the ban will not diminish the military's ability to fight.

Little said Defense Secretary Leon Panetta would discuss the matter at a Pentagon news conference on Tuesday. The Pentagon otherwise was taking a low-key approach to the historic day.

Gay rights groups, however, were preparing a series of celebrations.

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network said repeal supporters would hold "Repeal Day" celebrations across the country Tuesday.

"Through these events taking place in every state across the country we will pay tribute to their service and sacrifice as we look forward to this new era of military service - an era that honors the contributions of all qualified Americans who have served and wish to serve," said Aubrey Sarvis, an Army veteran and executive director of the advocacy group.

___

Associated Press writer Pauline Jelinek contributed to this report.

Related Video:

Comments

[Rogr1667]

11:44 PM on 09/20/2011

What a wonderful thing. Congratulations to all current gay/lesbian service members. But it is bittersweet. I can't help but think about the misery that many gay/lesbian service members went through throughout decades past. And how this stupid law should've been overturned long, long ago.
America is finally, slowly waking up. And I think due to this new outcome we will begin to see more positive changes in America for the lgbt community.

[Rich Cash]

03:26 AM on 09/20/2011

Oh, for crying out loud...Almost no one in the active duty military really gives a damn about DODT. We didn't when I was in the military from the 70's to the 90's either. There were people in every unit I was ever in who were know by almost everyone else to be gay and no one really cared. No one I know of was harrassed or beaten for being gay, and no one I know of was inappropriately propositioned by someone who was gay. I don't doubt that it happened occassionally but I never saw it and no one I knew ever saw it. We had more important worries, like keeping our asses alive.

[lambdin1]

04:09 PM on 10/21/2011

It may be easier now than when I was in, '67-70. Known gays were drumbed out of the service. The military wanted to keep "warm" bodies because of Vietnam, I doubt that it has changed, I can only hope. The military will find ways to remove those it does not want anyway it can! Let's hope that all the attitudes have indeed changed over the decades. Now we need to move on to DOMA. For many the change has been too slow. But I've seen it move so quickly in the last decade that it sometimes makes me dizzy. Some would say dizzier.

[sakovkt]

09:43 PM on 09/19/2011

So, instead of having homosexual rights parades "mooning" the church, we'll have them flying army helicopters, as in: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Koresh

That's why we really tried to keep politics out of the military.

[truth be told again]

10:58 PM on 09/19/2011

As Joan Rivers would say, "Grow up.'

[sakovkt]

09:45 PM on 09/21/2011

What's the point?

[WheelsOnFire]

11:27 PM on 09/20/2011

What foolishness.

Here's news for you -- gays have been flying army helicopters for, well, ever since there were army helicopters.

In fact, gay soldiers gave their lives as members of George Washington's Continental Army.

Do try to keep up with the real world.

[sakovkt]

09:47 PM on 09/21/2011

That's right!

George Washington used a lot of homosexual helicopter pilots.

[bi1]

08:50 PM on 09/19/2011

let me understand this ,the gays are not supposed to identfy themselves and the lesbians who have stayed quiet in this whole issue are along for the free ride.,These articles need to start saying homsexuals and not just gays.Details,details

[josie klapper]

09:16 PM on 09/19/2011

English is a masculine neutral language, so the term "Gay" does in fact encompass lesbians as well.

[American in Taipei]

10:23 PM on 09/19/2011

Actually, gay is the general term and lesbian is the term for women. Lesbians are gay women. It's like "actor" vs. "actress". Men and women are actors, but women are actresses.

[sakovkt]

08:00 PM on 09/19/2011

Well, so long as we fund our Dutch Army like the Dutch do, maybe it's OK.

[David Moore]

06:58 PM on 09/19/2011

It never ceases to amaze me how many anti gay sock puppets come out of the woodwork whenever pro-gay and pro-lesbian stories are posted.

[rg4there]

10:09 PM on 09/19/2011

"your" the stupid ones here.. learn what conjunctions are.. You're not your

[truth be told again]

11:01 PM on 09/19/2011

Why is illiteracy so prevalent among bigots?

[sakovkt]

09:25 PM on 09/19/2011

What's a"sock puppet"?

Are you a "sock puppet"?

You get one with 3 Tide boxtops and a SASE?

[Atwill]

06:48 PM on 09/19/2011

People on here who type their paranoia and fear of the showers are only showing their ignorance. My guess is that most of them never even served in the military. Really, paranoid that someone will see you in the shower? are you in the 7th grade? If you have these irrational fears , you should not be in the military. If someone seeing you naked freaks you out that bad, how would you react to being in battle?

[knotsofast]

08:56 PM on 09/19/2011

Then lets let woman and men shower together in the military. I'm sure women would not mind it.

[Atwill]

09:26 PM on 09/19/2011

I have no problem with that,. and i 'll tell you why. when i was in the military, oh way back in 78 -83, i only showered in one place where others could see me, in basic training. after that, on all bases we had doors, curtians and stalls. No one saw me. no one will see the pretty ladies anyway. and if they dont have curtians / doors, not hard to fix. come on. do you really think it is hard to put up a curtian? Really? but hey if you can get me back in time and send me to 1976 and let me shower with Farrah, the most beautiful woman ever, i'll not turn ya down.

[sakovkt]

09:27 PM on 09/19/2011

Oh, heck, no!

I wouldn't mind it either.

[fwabc]

02:42 AM on 09/20/2011

it's obvious YOU have never been in the military.

[Atwill]

07:57 AM on 09/20/2011

USAF 78 - 83,

[WheelsOnFire]

11:32 PM on 09/20/2011

It's obvious you have little intelligence.

When I attended college as an undergrad, there were gays on my floor in the dorm. Straights and gays showered side-by-side in communal showers with neither a care nor a single incident. So, if a straight person is intelligent and college-level material, that person can live in harmony with gays. On the other hand . . .

[moogan]

06:45 PM on 09/19/2011

Some people are gay. Get over it.

[FloridaGuy50]

08:39 PM on 09/19/2011

Does'nt make It right?

[Atwill]

09:26 PM on 09/19/2011

doesnt make it wrong. it is the way people are born.

[truth be told again]

11:03 PM on 09/19/2011

Then, don't be gay.

[sakovkt]

09:28 PM on 09/19/2011

Some people are gay.

That's the problem with it.

[truth be told again]

11:04 PM on 09/19/2011

What, exactly IS this "problem"? It's never been a problem for me.

[Charles Fortner]

12:31 AM on 09/20/2011

you seem, as evidenced from several of your other posts to be rather preoccupied with homosexuality. Hmmm. now why could that be? the more one excuses the more one accuses.

[jeromerudolf]

06:28 PM on 09/19/2011

Clinton showed the way; Obama made it law: evil is now recognized as good. Our hope is that our military wants change on election day. Get rid of the man who has no moral compass.

[Atwill]

09:00 PM on 09/19/2011

We did that wene we got rid of Bush.

[trueorfalse]

01:36 AM on 09/20/2011

That is not true. Bush did his two (2) terms. No one got "rid" of him. High year tenure.

[sakovkt]

09:32 PM on 09/19/2011

Clinton was a moral basket case.

"If nobody catches you, you're innocent"

But I wouldn't count on much from the military.

It's more an experiment in social engineering than winning wars.

[Atwill]

10:07 PM on 09/19/2011

so was letting blacks sit in the front of the bus i guess.

[AnJalyn]

12:56 AM on 09/20/2011

Good comment!!

[mrlasvegas]

06:26 PM on 09/19/2011

The new motto in our military: 'Don't leave your buddies behind'

[Soccerteaz Arstotill]

12:25 PM on 09/20/2011

When you hear "gay", you think of a certain kind of sex. Do you also constantly think about your straight friends having sex with their wives and husbands, or does your sexual fixation only apply to gay people? You might want to examine your preoccupation. Most adult straight men don't "titter" and talk about sex whenever they hear the word "gay". It kind of suggests you're either less adult, or less straight, than you imagine.

[WheelsOnFire]

11:38 PM on 09/20/2011

Brilliantly said!

[Truwriter]

06:22 PM on 09/19/2011

Really? we are reading to handle two more new sexual genders, gay and lesbian? New barracks, new showers? Or do the straights have to endure sexual harassment and if they complain the will be sacrificed to the altar of Political correctness. Obama has destablized the Middle East, the American economy and the US military...pretty good record for only three yrs in office...and those of us who voted for him are now expected to be pro war, pro oil, pro colonization and perpetrual poverty for us. What a guy.

[David Moore]

06:57 PM on 09/19/2011

Utterly insane! Soldiers, sailors, and marines can and will adapt to gays and lesbians in their ranks. They have done so for two centuries. The key difference now will be that gays and lesbians need not hide who they really are. They no longer need to live a lie; they can openly discuss their families and their loved ones right alongside their hetero counterparts.

[FloridaGuy50]

08:42 PM on 09/19/2011

Wow Gays serving In the Middle East that should work out well? You would be put to death In all Middle Eastern countries for being gay!

[knotsofast]

08:57 PM on 09/19/2011

Not openly.

[sakovkt]

07:44 PM on 09/19/2011

As Churchill said about naval tradition, "it was all rum, sodomy and the lash."

I doubt you'll get one without the other two.

[knotsofast]

08:57 PM on 09/19/2011

Nice.

[stanlord]

06:11 PM on 09/19/2011

"Ok men....mount up!.....Smithers! Not like that!"

[eturnusmc]

05:58 PM on 09/19/2011

Thank God I'm retired. This, along with the pillaging of the benefit and retirement plan will be the end of the all volunteer concept and the most competent military and naval force America has ever fielded. Things are going to be ugly for a long time to come.

[dws51564]

06:32 PM on 09/19/2011

If you really think there hasn't been gay people serving in the U.S. Military since Bunker Hill you're as naive as you are prejudice. However, I agree with your sentiments about benefits and retirement.

[knotsofast]

08:58 PM on 09/19/2011

Not openly.

[Atwill]

06:37 PM on 09/19/2011

thank GOD homophobes like you are no longer in. You are a disgrace to the USA

[dterraman]

05:50 PM on 09/19/2011

cannon fodder for the gangsta bankstas....don`t matter about no bedroom mannerisms

[keyperk]

05:42 PM on 09/19/2011

If the Pentagon and military branches are ready for the repeal, how do they already know who is gay and who is not based on recruiting? Are they asking questions about sexuality?

If the Pentagon is ready, how come they can't still today answer questions on how issues will be dealt with in regards to benefits and accomodations?

Will those previously discharged be reinstated automatically or by request and will the discharges all be reversed?

The leadership is not ready nor are the majority of the troops but they'll bite their tongue because that is what happens in reverse discrimination. Shut up and Take it!

[sakovkt]

07:46 PM on 09/19/2011

The DoD leadership is politically correct.

Being really correct doesn't matter.