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Gay Rights

‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Ends

Gay servicemen and -women begin serving openly.

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Jung Yeon-Je / Getty Images

At midnight Tuesday, “don’t ask, don’t tell” expired, and Navy Lt. Gary Ross married his boyfriend of 11 years in Vermont. The couple had traveled from their home in Arizona so they could openly marry before their loved ones. Also one minute after midnight, gay-rights activist J. D. Smith dropped his pseudonym: he is Lt. Josh Seefried, a 25-year-old who helped found an underground group of 4,000 gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender servicemen and -women. Gay-rights groups will celebrate the end of “don’t ask, don’t tell” on Tuesday. During its 18 years as policy, DADT led to the removal of some 13,000 men and women from the military.

Read it at The New York Times

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