The US policy banning gays from serving openly in the military ends today, with the Pentagon saying it is prepared for this new era in the American armed forces.
President Barack Obama last December signed legislation to repeal the policy known as 'don't ask, don't tell', which had been passed by Congress and signed into law in 1993 under then-president Bill Clinton.
"This is not a surprise. We're prepared. People will know exactly what do in conjunction with repeal," Pentagon spokesman George Little told reporters yesterday.
Military recruiters are now accepting enlistment applications from openly gay people, Mr Little said.
Under the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy, more than 14,500 US service members were thrown out of the military since it went into effect in 1993, according to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a group opposed to the ban.
The law had allowed gay men and women to serve in the military only if they kept their sexual orientation a secret.
Gays rights groups for years denounced the 'don't ask, don't tell' law, and have called its demise a significant milestone in the fight against anti-homosexual discrimination in the United States.
Mr Little said Pentagon officials have spent months preparing military personnel for the change, adding that new policies and guidelines will be issued when the repeal takes effect today. The vast majority of US service members have been trained on how to manage the change, Little said.
Three months before Congress passed the repeal last year, a gay rights group, the Log Cabin Republicans, won a court ruling striking down the policy. The court said the law infringed on the constitutional free-speech and due-process rights of gays in the armed forces.
The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals is weighing whether to affirm or overturn the decision declaring the ban unconstitutional, even as the repeal goes into effect.
Opponents of lifting the ban had argued that allowing openly gay people to serve in the military could harm US troops' combat effectiveness. Marine Corps Commandant James Amos had said that implementing the change could cost lives because of the impact on discipline and unit cohesiveness.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, were expected to discuss the repeal of the law today at a news conference.
Reuters