Military Law
Obama Will Drop ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ Aide Says
Posted Jan 14, 2009, 01:57 pm CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Barack Obama will end the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that bars openly gay men and women from serving in the military, according to a spokesman for the president-elect.
In a YouTube video, spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama is committed to ending the policy, report CNN and the San Francisco Chronicle. He spoke in response to a question about whether Obama would get rid of "don't ask, don't tell."
"You don't hear politicians give a one-word answer much,” Gibbs said. “But it's 'Yes.' "
Congress would first have to approve a bill rescinding the policy.
Federal appeals courts have split on the policy, the ABA Journal reports in the October issue. In Witt v. Air Force, decided in May, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the case of former Air Force flight nurse Maj. Margaret Witt, who was discharged after her relationship with another woman was discovered. A month later, in Cook v. Gates, the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a challenge to the policy.
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