Washington, Oct 11 (THAINDIAN NEWS) In a big boost to gay and homosexual rights, President Obama will end the controversial 15-year-old “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that has prevented homosexual and bisexual men and women from serving openly within the U.S. military, a spokesman for the president-elect said.

“I will end ‘don’t ask-don’t tell,”‘ Obama said on Saturday night to a standing ovation from the crowd of about 3,000 people at the annual dinner of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay civil rights advocacy group.

This controversial law was passed by the Congress in 1993 and signed by President Bill Clinton, who had also promised to repeal the ban on homosexuals in the military he never made good on his promise due to objections by the Congress.

“I appreciate that many of you don’t believe progress has come fast enough,” Obama said. “Do not doubt the direction we are heading and the destination we will reach.”

Most of the people were not very impressed with this promise, because they said that they had heard this very promise from man, but it still wasn’t implemented. Cleve Jones, a pioneer activist, said Obama delivered a brilliant speech, but added “it lacked the answer to our most pressing question, which is when.”

“He repeated his promises that he’s made to us before, but he did not indicate when he would accomplish these goals and we’ve been waiting for a while now,” said Jones, national co-chair of a major gay-rights rally scheduled for Sunday on the National Mall.

Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Service members Legal Defense Network said he was happy to hear Obama’s pledge but added “an opportunity was missed tonight.” He said his group “was disappointed the president did not lay out a timeline and specifics for repeal.”