The White House announced late Friday afternoon that the repeal of DADT was formally certified by President Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen.
“Today, we have taken the final major step toward ending the discriminatory ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law that undermines our military readiness and violates American principles of fairness and equality,” Obama said in a statement.
The President, as well as the Defense Secretary and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, were required by a law passed late last year to officially sign off on the repeal. The certification will be followed by a 60 day waiting period, set to end on September 20th.
During the 2008 campaign, President Obama pledged to end the controversial policy barring gays from serving in the military. The march towards its repeal included a survey issued last year asking servicemembers the best way to wind-down the policy and Congressional authorization last December.
Following the President’s stateemnt, a briefing was held at the Pentagon with the Repeal Implementation Team and the Department’s General Counsel, Jeh Johnson. The following was announced:
-Benefits will largely be untouched by the change, since DOMA and other laws restrict the military from recognizing same sex partners. The Department won’t be giving service pay for those honorably discharged for being gay.
-Sexual orientation will not affect where soldiers are deployed.
-Prior to the certification, the Service Chiefs and Secretaries were consulted. A Defense official says they “unanimously” reported that their services were ready for the repeal.
-1.79 million servicemembers have gone through training in preparation for the repeal. Under the law passed in December, training does not need to be 100 percent complete prior to the repeal.
-Commanders will be prohibited from physically segregating gay servicemembers.
-Those who were discharged solely for being gay can re-enlist on September 20th.