On Saturday the US repealed its controversial policy on gays and lesbians serving in the military not revealing their sexuality. Better known as Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the policy had long been criticised as marginalising gay and lesbian servicemen and women.
Writing in the Huffington Post, former tennis great Billie Jean King said the decision “should have been a no-brainer” which she sees as “a celebration of doing the right thing”. She praised President Obama’s role in the decision likening it to President Harry Truman’s 1948 Executive Order to integrate African Americans into the military.
She concluded saying:
I am proud to be an American and I am honored to have the men and women who serve in our armed forces put their lives on the line to protect our nation. Their race, gender or sexual orientation does not matter to me. What matters most is their commitment to our country.
The Atlantic reported on Friday that former presidential candidate John McCain was making a “last stand” to keep the controversial law. The magazine reports fragments of McCain’s speech:
“There will be high-fives over all the liberal bastions of America,” he [McCain] predicted, from “the elite schools that bar military recruiters from campus” to “the salons of Georgetown” and the “talk shows” where people – “most of whom have never have served in the military” – will crow over the law’s repeal.
One of the “crowing” talk shows will be Ellen Degeneres who applauded the move on Twitter saying “Thank you Senators for pushing us one step closer towards full equality.”