Military Officially Ends Ban on Openly Gay Soldiers

For the past 18 years the U.S. military has followed a policy which essentially banned openly gay soldiers from serving; for quite some time gay rights activists have worked to reverse this ban and today the ban was finally lifted officially. The bill was originally passed a few months ago and today was the selected day for the ban to be lifted and just as expected the ban has now been officially lifted.

To commemorate lifting the ban on openly gay soldiers President Obama officially spoke about the situation. He was very quick to welcome the new policy which will finally allow soldiers and members of the military to be themselves without the fear of being removed. There are currently an estimated 65,000 gay members of the U.S. military and they and the entire gay community have expressed their gratitude for the lift of the “don’t ask don’t tell” policy as well.

This is once again a step in the right direction for equality and openness according to many analysts. The end of the ban on openly gay members of the military marks an end of the 18 year discrimination which and will hopefully lead to more acceptance by everyone. All around the country gay support groups celebrated this outstanding victory as it is truly one of the greatest successes for the entire community and it will surely give the gay community more momentum for future endeavors towards equality and acceptance.

Spotify Music Service Comes to America

Spotify is an incredibly popular music service in nearly all of Europe for the past few years but for a variety of reasons it was not available in the United States. This week however Americans got the word that Spotify is finally coming to America and the response is already overwhelming according to Spotify.

So far Spotify has not announced exactly how many members have been invited to try the service but they have said that the response was simply amazing. Spotify executives are hoping to see 50 million users in America by this time next year which clearly shows that Spotify is a successful and popular service.

The truly amazing thing about Spotify coming to America is that there has been so much positive press surrounding the program. Generally when a service like this becomes suddenly available there are all sorts of complaints or issues but thus far nearly everyone has been impressed by the service. Spotify is finally taking their service to next level by now allowing users from not just Europe but the US as well to connect with music through the online streaming system. Spotify claims to be the future of music distribution and given the response they received in America it seems like they are probably correct, at least for the time being. No word on when Spotify will become public but for now it is going to remain an invitation only music streaming service in America.

Court Ends Ban on Gay Military Service

Today a United States Federal Appeals court issued a final ruling on the case against banning openly gay people from serving in the military. The ruling marked a huge success for the gay community everywhere as judges agreed that the ban against openly gay soldiers was unnecessary and should be revoked immediately.

You might remember that late last year Congress finally revoked the ban on gays serving but despite 6 months passing they have not actually made any progress as far as removing the old policies. The various branches of the military were given no timeline on how long they had to remove the old policy any unfortunately very little progress has been made. The court ruling today however should force each of the branches to immediately begin revoking the policies established by the ban.

According to those close to the case the overall purpose was to make it clear what would not be tolerated. Because the ban has effectively been lifted they felt it was necessary to expedite the process which is why this second court case came to light. Obviously today they were successful in convincing the court system that not enough have been done. At this time each of the branches will begin modifying their policies as well as investigating any complaints or harassment cases that might be associated with the ban. Once again, this is a large accomplishment according to many in the gay community and they hope that it could lead to more acceptance in all areas of society.