US lifts gay soldier ban

The Senate voted to end the 17-year ban on openly gay troops, overturning the Clinton-era policy known as ”don‘t ask, don‘t tell.”

”It‘s one step in a very long process of becoming an equal rights citizen,” said Warren Arbury of Savannah, Georgia, who served in the Army for seven years, including three combat tours, before being kicked out two years ago under the policy. He said he planned to re-enlist once the policy is abolished, the independent news reports.

”Even though this is really huge, I look at it as a chink in a very, very long chain,” he added.

Supporters declared the vote a civil rights milestone.

Aaron Belkin, director of the California-based Palm Center — a think tank on the issue — said the vote ”ushers in a new era in which the largest employer in the United States treats gays and lesbians like human beings.”
Source:http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201012200441379