MILESTONE

Senate Votes to Repeal DADT

Sixty-five votes to end ban on gays in military.

Just weeks before single-party rule comes to an end in Washington, and 17 years after the policy was enacted into law by the Clinton administration, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has been virtually assured a repeal. With 65 votes on Saturday, including eight Republicans, the Senate voted to end the policy; the House has already done so. The move fulfills one of President Obama’s key campaign promises, delighting gay-rights activists who had become skeptical of the president’s commitment to ending the policy. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen have publicly supported the repeal. "No longer will our nation be denied the service of thousands of patriotic Americans forced to leave the military, despite years of exemplary performance, because they happen to be gay,” the president said in a statement. “And no longer will many thousands more be asked to live a lie in order to serve the country they love.”