US President backs change to law on gays in military

President Barack Obama agrees with a Pentagon survey that overturning the US military’s ban on gay service members would not be disruptive, the White House said yesterday. Mr Obama continues to believe that the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is divisive and should be overturned bylaw, his spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

Mr Gibbs said the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” was discussed during Mr Obama’s meeting with bipartisan politicians yesterday.

The Pentagon study on gays in the military has determined that overturning the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law might cause some disruption at first but would not create any widespread or long-lasting problems.

The study provided ammunition to congressional Democrats struggling to overturn the law. But even with the release of yesterday’s study, there was no indication they could overcome fierce Republican objections with just a few weeks left in the year-ending session of Congress.