US Senate blocks debate on gay military policy repeal
Under current policy, gay people are expelled from the military if they reveal their sexual orientation US senators have rejected attempts to open a debate on a bill which included a provision allowing the repeal of the ban on openly gay military personnel.Just 56 senators voted in favour of debating the defence authorisation bill, four short of the 60 required.Gay people can serve in the military, but face expulsion if they reveal their sexuality. US President Barack Obama has promised to scrap the policy.Democrats could still try again later this year to pass the legislation.Reacting to the vote - which split largely along Republican-Democrat party lines - White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said: "We're disappointed at not being able to proceed on the legislation, but we'll keep trying."The BBC's Paul Adams, in Washington, says the vote is a setback for Mr Obama, who had hoped to deliver on a campaign promise to repeal the law - known as "don't ask, don't tell".The Pentagon is conducting a study into how repeal might be implemented, but Republicans, and many in the military, fear that it could damage morale at a time when the armed forces are fighting two wars, our correspondent adds.Procedural tacticEarlier, the only Republican senator to support repealing the law, Susan Collins, said she was withdrawing her support.Her vote was seen as the crucial 60th vote needed to limit debate and advance the bill in the 100-seat Senate.In the event Democratic senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor both sided with Republicans to block the bill, while Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, also voted against the measure as a procedural tactic.It is not clear how the Democrats intend to respond to this setback in the Senate, but it seems highly unlikely that President Obama will get his way on gays serving openly in the military before November's mid-term elections.If the Republicans retake control of one or more houses of Congress, then the president may never get his way, our correspondent says
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