WASHINGTON (AP) — The Defense Department next week will for the first time propose a "way forward" on lifting the military's ban on gays from serving openly, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said Thursday.
President Barack Obama has vowed to work with Congress this year to repeal the law, but Democrats have been waiting to hear from the military on how it could be done.
In special hourlong testimony next Tuesday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen are expected to identify specific steps the military will take before the law is changed to lessen the impact on a force fighting two wars.
The plan also is aimed at helping to determine how Congress can write a new law.
"The secretary and the chairman have and will continue to work on an implementation plan, and we'll be able to share it with you early next week," Morrell said.
Between 1997 and 2008, the Defense Department fired more than 10,500 service members for violating the policy. The number of dismissals dropped sharply after the 2001 terrorist attacks as forces were heavily deployed around the world, with half as many troops fired in 2008 as in 2001.
Obama has promised to repeal the law but has done little to press the issue in his first year as president. In his national address on Wednesday, Obama drew a standing ovation from Congress and Gates when he suggested that would change.
"This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are," Obama said Wednesday during his State of the Union address. "It's the right thing to do."
Gates and Mullen were already scheduled to testify next week on the Pentagon's 2011 budget request. The Senate Armed Services Committee, chaired by Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who supports repealing the law, devoted a separate hourlong session to the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
