Washington (CNN) — The reactions range from gloom-and-doom predictions to big countdown parties and smaller celebrations to ho-hum business-as-usual as the U.S. military changes its rules Tuesday and allows gay men and lesbians to serve openly.
A minute into the new day, 12:01 a.m., the old “don’t ask, don’t tell” rule that has been in force since the Clinton administration is gone.
In its place is a policy designed to be blind to sexual orientation and that the Pentagon brass insists will maintain the military in fighting trim and have no negative impact on “military readiness, military effectiveness, unit cohesion and recruiting and retention.”
Some members of the U.S. military — many who carefully hid both their identities and sexual orientation for years — are wasting no time in making their sexual identity public.
That includes the man who until now had been known as J.D. Smith. Smith had been at the forefront of pushing for the repeal, as co-founder and co-director of a group called OutServe, which bills itself as the Association of Actively Serving LGBT Military Personnel. As an active-duty member he would only speak to the media under a pseudonym. As the new rules, his real identity will be revealed. He is Josh Seefried, an airman serving on a base in New Jersey.
“It will be a huge relief,” Seefried said Monday. Read on here
