Dec. 7, 2010 /EIN Presswire/ – Speaking to a crowd of nearly 5,000 on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that he was not very hopeful that Congress would repeal the Clinton-era military policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” this year.
This comes on the heels of the release of a Defense Department study on the effect of allowing gays to openly serve in the military. The report found that aggressive education and training for members of the U.S. Armed Forces would allow for a peaceful transition to gay members of the military serving openly.
Gates stressed the necessity for the passage of a law rather than a forced ban by the courts and justice system, which would make the period of transition much more hasty and difficult.
The Defense Secretary said that he would work with the chiefs of the branches of the military to ensure that a proper timeline is implemented in accordance with President Obama’s wishes for no delay, if the law is passed by year’s end.
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