Obama signs 'don't ask' repeal

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. President Obama Wednesday signed the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, ending the military ban on gays and lesbians openly serving in the military.

The Senate voted 65-31 Saturday to end the policy, which bars gays and lesbians serving in the U.S. military from being open about their sexual orientation. The House had approved repeal 250-175 last week. Putting the new policy into effect will take at least 60 days.

Obama also met with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in the Oval Office and held a news conference, at which he praised the bipartisanship in Congress' lame-duck session and said he hoped Washington would "heed the message of the American people."

"A lot of folks predicted after midterm election, Washington would be heading for more partisanship and more gridlock," Obama said. "If there's any lessen we can draw from the past two weeks, it's that we're not doomed to endless gridlock."

He called the lame-duck session the most productive post-election session in decades, ticking off bipartisan agreement to extend tax cuts and unemployment benefits, pass a sweeping food safety bill, repeal of the military's ban on gays and lesbians openly serving in the military and Senate ratification of the U.S.-Russia nuclear arms reduction treaty.

He said he was disappointed that the so-called DREAM Act providing a path to citizenship for children of illegal immigrants under certain circumstances and that the budget wasn't handled in the long term.

"We are not a nation that says 'don't ask don't tell,' we are a nation that says 'out of many, one,'" Obama said during the signing ceremony. "We are a nation that believes all men and women are created equal."

Obama said he was honored to sign a law that will "will strengthen our national security and uphold the ideals that our fighting men and women risk their lives to defend."

"No longer will tens of thousands of Americans in uniform be asked to live a lie or look over their shoulder," Obama said.