U.S. Military Will Accept "Gay" and Lesbian

WASHINGTON, The Pentagon will argue that the U.S. military is ready to accept gay and lesbian members, said a U.S. official told CNN on Thursday (21/07/2011).

According to officials who did not want to be named, the announcement about it, which is necessary to cancel the policy "do not ask, do not tell", it will likely happen on Friday. Still according to these officials, acceptance of gay and lesbian soldiers would not harm the readiness of U.S. troops.

Under a bill passed last year that established a process to cancel the controversial policy, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, along with President Barack Obama, had to sign a file that confirms the ability of the military to accept gay and lesbian soldiers . In fact, after the ratification of the file, there will be a waiting period of 60 days before the revocation is fully implemented.

One prominent group supporting repeal the policy, Servicemembers United, in a statement Thursday, said the group had been expecting Panetta act immediately since he replace Robert Gates as defense secretary on July 1. "We are pleased to see that only three weeks into his tenure as defense minister, he (Panetta) is convinced that this policy change can take place with little or no interference with military readiness," the statement Servicemembers United.

Cancellation policy "do not ask, do not tell" will end the legal dispute is convoluted, led by human rights groups and gay rights. A group of gay rights, Log Cabin Republicans, has sued the 18-year-old ban that prohibits gays and lesbians serving in the U.S. armed forces.

Last September, the U.S. district judge, Virginia Phillips, states, military ban was unconstitutional and demanded the government immediately stop its implementation.


Source : http://internasional.kompas.com

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