"Don't ask, don't tell" takes step toward repeal

WASHINGTON - The House delivered a victory to President Barack Obama and gay rights groups Thursday by approving a proposal to repeal the law that allows gays to serve in the military only if they don't disclose their sexual orientation.

The 234-194 vote to overturn the "don't ask, don't tell" policy reflected a view among many in Congress that America was ready for a military in which gays and straights can stand side by side in the trenches.

"I know that our military draws its strength on the integrity of our unified force, and current law challenges this integrity," Rep. Susan Davis (D-Calif.) said.

Republicans, who voted overwhelmingly against it, cited statements by some military leaders that they need more time to study how a change in the law could affect the lives and readiness of service members.

The House vote came just hours after the Senate Armed Services Committee took the same course and voted 16-12 in favor of repealing the 1993 law. In both cases the measure was offered as an amendment to a defense-spending bill.

Obama and leading Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), had actively supported the repeal so that gays could serve in the military without fear of being exposed and discharged.

"This is the beginning of the end of a shameful ban on open service by lesbian and gay troops that has weakened our national security," Joe Solmonese, president of Human Rights Campaign, said after the Senate panel's vote.

During an all-day House debate on the bill approving more than $700 billion in spending for defense programs, Republicans repeated statements by military service chiefs that Congress should not act before the Pentagon completes a study on the impact of a repeal.

Congress going first "is the equivalent to turning to our men and women in uniform and their families and saying, 'Your opinion, your view, do not count,' " said Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon (R-Calif.) of the House Armed Services Committee.

Democrats stressed that the amendment was written so that the repeal would not go into effect until after the Pentagon publishes in December the results of its survey and until the president, the defense secretary and the Joint Chiefs of Staff certify that the repeal will not affect the military's ability to fight.