From Raw Story: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/senate-clears-path-repeal-militarys-gay-ban/
By Agence France-Presse
Saturday, December 18th, 2010 — 12:29 pm
Update: The US Senate passed legislation that will repeal the military’s exclusionary ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy on Saturday afternoon by a vote of 65-31. The measure will be on President Obama’s desk for his signature next week.
“Today, America lived up to its highest ideals of freedom and equality. Congress recognized that all men and women have the right to openly serve their country,” Joe Solmonese, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT-rights group, said. “Plenty of people had already planned the funeral for this legislation. Today, we pulled out a victory from what was almost certain defeat just a few days ago. We are grateful to President Obama, Majority Leader Reid and Sens. Lieberman, Collins and countless others for their dogged determination to repeal DADT.”
An earlier report follows…
APresident Barack Obama’s landmark drive to let gays serve openly in the US military for the first time in history looked on track to clear its final major obstacle in Congress on Saturday.
Senators were set to vote to end debate on broadly popular legislation to scrap the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy enacted in 1993 that requires gay troops to keep quiet about their sexual orientation or face dismissal.
Continue reading at: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/senate-clears-path-repeal-militarys-gay-ban/