President Barack Obama has announced that the law banning openly gay people from serving in the US military under the 'Don't ask don't tell' policy is to end on September 20.
"As of September 20th, service members will no longer be forced to hide who they are in order to serve our country," Obama said.
"Our military will no longer be deprived of the talents and skills of patriotic Americans just because they happen to be gay or lesbian," he said.
Gays will be able to freely declare their sexual orientation. "As commander in chief, I have always been confident that our dedicated men and women in uniform would transition to a new policy in an orderly manner that preserves unit cohesion, recruitment, retention and military effectiveness," the president said in a statement.
Last year, Judge Virginia A. Phillips of Federal District Court for the Central District of California, wrote that the 17-year-old policy ‘infringes the fundamental rights of United States service members and prospective service members."
Obama said that the required training had been carried out to ensure that military is ready for repeal. According to the ‘Don't Ask, Don't Tell’ policy gay troops were required to keep silent about their sexual orientation or be thrown out of the military.
Military personnel and gay rights activists have struggled for years to overturn the ban, which was brought into law in 1993 as a compromise after military chiefs rejected a bid by former president Bill Clinton to open the doors to gay soldiers.
Meanwhile, many gay couples in New York City are getting ready to formally tie the knot on Sunday, for the first time after the New York state allowed gay marriages earlier this month. Obama has also thrown his support for Respect for Marriage Act, which will allow same-sex marriages in the country.