Obama vows to end military ban on lesbians and gays
January 29th, 2010
US president Barack Obama has promised to follow up on his election campaign pledge to lift a ban on lesbians and gays serving openly in the American military.
As part of his State of Union speech, despite just saying one line on the subject, the president gave hope to the estimated 65,000 gay men and women currently serving in the military.
“This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are. It’s the right thing to do.”
The current law means that service personnel are not allowed to disclose their sexual orientation and cannot be asked about. It is estimated that around 13,000 people have been discharged under the ban in the US.
The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy was introduced by former president Bill Clinton in 1993 as a compromise to the previous outright ban on gay people serving in the military. Clinton’s policy effectively allows gay people to serve, but their sexuality must remain a secret.
In Obama’s 2008 election campaign, he promised to be a “fierce advocate” for lesbian and gay people, vowing to scrap Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
Yet in the past year, he has been criticised by some gay rights groups for not moving quickly enough to act upon his pledges.
Following the president’s speech at last night’s State of Union meeting, the Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to commence holding hearings on repealing the law in the next few weeks.
In the UK, a ban on lesbians and gays serving in the armed forces was lifted in January 2000, following years of protests and activism.
The 1955 and 1957 laws, which banned homosexuality in the Army/Air Force and Royal Navy respectively, were enforced up until 2000, despite the decriminalising of homosexuality in 1967.
Yet it was challenged in 1992, by former Army serviceman Robert Ely and gay rights group Stonewall, and after years of legal battles, the ban was finally replaced 10 years ago with a sexual orientation-free general code of conduct.
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