US to change military gay ban: report

Top US military officials urged Congress not to lift or ease a ban on gays serving openly in the armed forces until they have a strategy to address "concerns" about the move among troops.US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the chairman of the US Joints Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, said in a letter to the House Armed Services Committee that they "strongly oppose" any change to the prohibition for now.

President Barack Obama vowed to work with lawmakers "this year" to repeal the law that bans gays from serving openly in the US military.As a candidate, Obama promised to scrap the policy that requires gays to keep quiet about their sexual orientation or face expulsion but has moved cautiously since taking office a year ago."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 in his debut State of the Union address.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates will launch a year-long review Tuesday designed to prepare the way for the repeal of a ban on gays serving openly in the US military, a defense official said.Taking on a politically charged issue, Gates was due to tell a Senate panel on Tuesday about the plan as well as interim measures easing enforcement of the ban, known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

The US Senate dealt a potentially deadly blow to efforts to repeal a ban on gays serving openly in the US military, in another setback to a "deeply disappointed" President Barack Obama.Lawmakers voted 57-40 -- three votes short of the 60 needed -- to move forward with annual military spending legislation that included a measure ending the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.The motion was a defeat for Obama, who has made repealing the 1993 law a priority in the year-end "lame duck" session of Congress.

US President Barack Obama sought to delay the lifting of a ban on gays serving openly in the military, arguing that his review should be completed first so the transition can be "orderly."Obama has long said he plans to scrap the controversial military policy known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," which requires gay and lesbian service members to stay quiet about their sexuality or face being kicked out.But Virginia Phillips, a federal judge in California, stole his thunder on Tuesday, ordering the government to immediately suspend the policy.

US President Barack Obama ordered his top military and foreign policy advisers to brief lawmakers on Libya Wednesday amid questions, doubts and even anger about his handling of the conflict.Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and the top uniformed US officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, were to brief the Senate and House of Representatives.

US President Barack Obama's administration asked an appeals court Wednesday to immediately suspend a judge's decision to repeal a ban on gays serving openly in the military.The US military said Tuesday it was accepting openly gay recruits for the first time in the country's history, as District Judge Virginia Phillips of California refused to grant the Obama administration a stay on her court order.

A Defense Department study group has found that the United States could lift its ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military with little risk to current war efforts, The Washington Post reported Thursday."More than 70 percent of respondents to a survey sent to active-duty and reserve troops over the summer said the effect of repealing the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy would be positive, mixed or nonexistent," the online Post report said, citing two unnamed sources familiar with the document, due to be delivered to President Barack Obama on December 1.