Obama Repeals 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' Mayor Duran Says 'Justice Has Prevailed'

The United States' ban on gay men and women from serving openly in the military will come to an end, once and for all, in 60 days, President Barack Obama announced Friday afternoon from the White House.

"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," President Obama said in a release. "In accordance with the legislation that I signed into law last December, I have certified and notified Congress that the requirements for repeal have been met."

West Hollywood Mayor John Duran issued a statement:

The page has finally been turned on a great injustice. President Bill Clinton first met with LGBT activists in Los Angeles in September 1991 where he promised to lift the ban on lesbian and gay service members. The promise he made to me and others was broken in 1993 during his first year in office when he signed DADT. I was arrested along with 40 other people in front of the White House to decry the broken promise. Now, almost 20 years later, justice has prevailed, but so many lives were ruined under the disastrous policy.

It was proud day for the Log Cabin Republicans, a national gay and lesbian grassroots organization, which sought to overturn the military's policy back in August 2010.

The group worked with the Pentagon’s Comprehensive Working Group, which showed servicemembers were unopposed to the change, and brought forward the federal lawsuit, Log Cabin Republicans v. United States, which declared "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" unconstitutional.

"It is a proud day to be an American, and a proud day to be a Log Cabin Republican," said Log Cabin Executive Director R. Clarke Cooper in Friday's newsletter. "It has been a long campaign, and the fight is not yet over, but victory is in sight at last."

Come September 20, 2011, servicemen and women can no longer be discharged from duty for their sexual orientation.

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