R.I.P. DADT (Update, Update II)

It's gone. Here's a good summary of the whole thing from Jim Burroway at BTB.

Here's the official statement from the Army.

One thing that Burroway touches on is the FRC's latest scare/fundraising letter. Laurel Ramseyer at Pam's House Blend goes into more detail, but I think she misread it a little bit. Perkins is just claiming to be a powerful voice for religious liberty, which is bullshit -- he doesn't care about religious liberty, at least, not for anyone but himself. I think he's counting on President Perry reinstating an anti-gay policy and is making a pre-emptive strike for credit.

Timothy Beauchamp at AmericaBlog Gay has a well-considered cautionary post.

TIME TO CELEBRATE! Then, we need to prepare for battle with the knowledge our enemies never rest, and will be furiously trying to regain the upper hand. We can not allow that to happen. We must continue marching forward until we achieve FULL EQUALITY in every aspect of American life.

He's right in large measure. Repeal of DADT itself is vulnerable -- the law itself mandates no antidiscrimination policies -- anything along those lines is a matter of regulations -- and we are already seeing discrimination because of DOMA. There have been calls for president Obama to issue an executive order mandating non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation which is not going to happen, and even if he does issue such an order, the next president can rescind it with the stroke of a pen. It has to be a matter of law or a constitutional mandate from the courts.

(On the regulations front, here's a list of deletions and changes to regs from the Marines. It's quite lengthy.)

I may come back to this as I run across more articles and commentary, but this will do to start.

Update: Here's a nice story on one of the effects of repeal:

When Navy Lt. Gary Ross and his partner were searching for a place to get married, they settled on a site in Vermont, in part because the state is in the Eastern time zone.

That way, the two men were able to recite their vows before family and friends at the first possible moment after the formal repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Just after midnight Tuesday, the partners of 11 years were married.

"I think it was a beautiful ceremony. The emotions really hit me...but it's finally official," Ross said early Tuesday.

Update II:

I hesitated about including this, but it's worth watching. It's a little long, but you won't notice.

I got all sniffly.