WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday he was disappointed but not surprised the Senate failed to repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
Gates said he wasn't optimistic the Senate would repeal the law that bars gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military but expressed hope that lawmakers might end the policy in another manner during their lame-duck session, The New York Times reported.
Efforts to repeal the policy lost 57-40 in a procedural vote in the Senate Thursday.
"There is still roughly a week left in the lame-duck session and so I would hope that the Congress would act to repeal 'don't ask, don't tell,'" Gates told reporters aboard a military aircraft en route to Washington from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
In Washington Thursday, Sens. Joseph Lieberman, Ind-Conn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, floated the possibility of pulling the measure from the defense spending bill and trying to pass it as stand-alone legislation.
If Congress doesn't act, Gates said, the Pentagon likely would be at the mercy of the judiciary, a warning he has made before.
"My greatest worry will be that then we are at the mercy of the courts and all the lack of predictability that that entails," he said.
In October, a district court in California ordered the military to stop enforcing the law and for eight days military recruiters were told they could accept openly gay applicants. A higher court then ruled the Defense Department could continue enforcement during the appeals process.
An appeal is expected to be heard next year along with lawsuits the Pentagon faces from gays and lesbians challenging their discharges from the military. UPI
