Gay rights group wants military gay ban to end immediately

A gay Republican group has filed an appeal to end the US ban on openly gay soldiers immediately.

The Log Cabin Republicans filed their brief in the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco yesterday.

They said that keeping the ban in place after President Barack Obama signed an order to repeal it is “absurd”.

The group argues that it is unconstitutional for Congress to allow the military to keep the ban while it trains troops to deal with the change after lawmakers have repealed the policy.

President Obama pledged to repeal the 1993 law in his 2008 election campaign but was criticised by gay groups for being slow to act.

In December, the US Senate finally voted to repeal the 17-year ban, which is known as ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ because it requires gay and lesbian troops to keep their sexuality secret.

However, it will not be lifted until the Pentagon certifies that military readiness will not be harmed by the change.

Following this certification, 60 days must pass before repeal officially takes place.

More than 13,500 troops have been fired under the law since 1993.