‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ Comes to an End – No PDA Policy Still Applies without DADT

After years of debate and political posturing, at least one long standing issue has been put to rest. As of today, the ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ policy, also known as DADT adopted in 1993, has officially ended. With the repeal now effective, the Pentagon will now being to allow gays to serve openly in the military.

In an announcement, the Pentagon indicated that while it was accepting applications from openly gay candidates, it was planning to wait for another day prior to reviewing them.

Under the old policy, gays were only allowed to serve in the military as long as they did not admit openly to anyone that they were gay, and no one in the military was allowed to ask the question. Now gays may serve openly in the military.

In addition to the lifting of the ban, and the repeal of the DADT policy, all current and pending investigations, discharges and other proceedings against military personnel have now been halted.

While many in congress fought against the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and still remain opposed to its end, President Obama signed the law that repealing DADT this past December. This was something which he had promised to do when he ran for election.

Those opposed to the repeal indicate that they are concerned about it undermining order and discipline among the military ranks. To address the concerns, the military has reportedly spent several months training personnel and updating regulations.

The military has long had a strict policy of personal conduct pertaining to public displays of affection. This change in the DADT policy will have no effect on that policy as it will simply now be applied to all personnel regardless of their sexual orientation.