SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS/AP)  -- The East Bay congresswoman leading the first Congressional examination of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” since it was implemented 15 years ago believes the military’s policy towards gay men and lesbians could be changed next year.

Democrat Ellen Tauscher said the policy that requires gay people in the military to remain closeted could be repealed if Barack Obama wins the White House and the Democrats control Congress.

The hearing Wednesday by a subcommittee of the House Armed Service Committee was aimed at preparing the ground in Congress and among the general public for a full-scale push to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Republican presidential candidate John McCain supports the current policy, implemented during the Clinton administration after an effort to allow gay men and lesbians to serve openly encountered stiff resistance.

Just repealing the existing policy is not enough, said Nathan Persily, a professor of law and political science at Columbia Law School.

“What exactly would replace it,” he said. “Prior to the Clinton administration, there was still a prohibition on gay serving in the military, it just didn't have this more complicated law regulating it.”

Changes in the public’s attitude since the early 90s law would make the current effort seem like “just another way of integrating the military like it has done over the years,” with African Americans and women, Persily said.

Three-fourths of those surveyed in a Washington Post-ABC News poll over the weekend said openly gay people should be allowed to serve. That's up from 62 percent in early 2001 and 44 percent in 1993.

(jro)