Pentagon: Lifting gay ban to take time

While the Senate voted to overturn the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy employed by the military, the policy will remain in place 'awhile longer' because such drastic changes take time. Military commanders want to make sure that lifting the ban will not effect the troops' ability to work together. According to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, any new policies put into place will have to ensure that the present standards of the military are still met. As of now, there will be a sixty day waiting period until, presumably, the DADT policy will be officially repealed. Meanwhile, the military has sent out a memo to its troops reminding any gay or lesbian military members to stay quiet because they could be dismissed from the military.
While I think this is a step in the right direction, saying that it will 'take time' is a massive understatement. I believe that prejudice directed at homosexuals can be generational. And sad as it is, until people who grew up under the strict belief that homosexuality was THE ultimate sin are dead and gone, constant oppostition will continue to face the gay and lesbian community. I like how, at a federal level, homosexuals are finally being recognized as people; citizens with rights, and not some blasphemous sinner that needs to be 'fixed.' However, I am positive that the vote to repeal DADT will be met with some violent and ardent protests.