Sam Nunn Supports DADT Repeal

Former Democratic senator Sam Nunn, who led the fight against gay people serving in the military in 1993, said that he thinks the "don't ask, don't tell" policy should be overturned because "society has changed."

According to the Associated Press, "In an interview this week, Nunn told the Associated Press that the law known as 'don't ask, don't tell' should be overturned as long as there is enough time to prepare the troops for the change. He said the Pentagon should be given at least a year before the repeal takes effect to ensure operations in Afghanistan aren't affected."

As chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee in 1993, Nunn led the charge against proposals to lift the ban entirely on gays and lesbians serving in the military. The resulting "don't ask, don't tell" law was considered a compromise between President Bill Clinton and the Pentagon, which argued that allowing gays to serve would harm the military's ability to fight.

"Society has changed, and the military has changed," the former senator from Georgia said in the AP interview this week.

Talks continued Thursday in the Senate on efforts to repeal "don't ask, don't tell" before the end of the year.