Appearing on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said “the country has changed” in the 17 years since “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” became law and now believes, “it is perfectly acceptable to get rid of the law and the policy.”
The retired general and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs said, “at the end of the day, the law will change and ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ will go away.”
Originally, Powell was opposed to President Clinton’s 1993 effort to end the military’s ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military, testifying before Congress that it would negatively affect the “cohesion and well-being” of the force.
In February, Powell issued a statement announcing his support for repealing the law in February, following the testimony of the current Joint Chiefs Chairman, Adm. Mike Mullen, to the Senate Armed Services Committee that repealing the law would be the “right thing to do.”
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But, he added, “before we actually do it, we have to hear clearly from the officers and men and women who are in charge of executing that policy.”
Watch an excerpt from the interview at ABC News.
