Kerry Eleveld's interview with President Barack Obama about the timeline for implementing DADT repeal is a big deal:
Yes, OK. Back to “don't ask, don't tell” real quick. How long do you anticipate the certification process [will be]?
I spoke to Admiral Mullen today. He said he’s taking the implementation manual that was a companion to the attitudinal survey off to vacation with him. He is prepared to implement. I spoke to other of the service chiefs, including, for example, General Amos. We saw that in the attitudinal surveys there was the most resistance in the Marine Corps. But Jim Amos said to me that he’s ready to implement and he’s going to make it work.
So my strong sense is this is a matter of months…
Not years?
Absolutely not years—and that we will get this done in a timely fashion, and the chiefs are confident that it will get done in a timely fashion. They understand this is not something that they're going to be slow-walking.
Integration of the military took years--the U.S. entered a war in Korea in 1950 with segregated units, two years after the 1948 executive order issued by President Harry Truman. There are a number of policy changes, particularly those related to partner benefits that will need to take place that didn't fifty years ago, but the truth is DADT repeal should be much easier. After all, unlike with black servicemembers, gays and lesbians are already serving--it's not as though this process requires throwing people together who previously weren't in contact with one another.
What's awkward is that even with DADT repeal, the military is barred by law from offering certain specific benefits to same-sex couples. While the military will have to comply with the law, the logic of that just became even more impossible to justify.
