The Pentagon has reportedly updated its Military Equal Opportunity policy; under the new policy, discrimination of gay and lesbian people in banned.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter made the announcement of the non-discrimination policy at the Defense Department’s LGBT Pride Month ceremony, according to Christian Today.
Carter said, "...I'm proud to announce that the Department of Defence has completed the process for updating its Military Equal Opportunity policy to include sexual orientation – ensuring that the department, like the rest of the federal government, treats sexual-orientation-based discrimination the same way it treats discrimination based on race, religion, color, sex, age, and national origin.”
He continued, "And I'm very proud of the work that the military services have put into this over the last several months. Because discrimination of any kind has no place in America's armed forces.”
The military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was repealed four years ago. According to the regulations, gay members of the military could only serve if they kept their sexual orientation under wraps. Now the U.S. takes “pride in how they’re free to serve their country openly,” said Carter.
Publication date: June 11, 2015
