At 12:01am, the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy was formally repealed. Gays and lesbians can now serve freely in the US Armed Forces. The official notice from the US Army was released last night, in a completely understated document. “The law is repealed,” says the letter from Army Chief of Staff Ray Odierno, Secretary of the Army John McHugh and Sergeant Major of the Army Raymond Chandler. “It is the duty of all personnel to treat each other with dignity and respect, while maintaining good order and discipline throughout our ranks. Doing so, we will help the US Army remain the strength of the Nation.”

Stand with Lt. Dan Choi: Oppose His Punishment at the Hands of the White House and Military.

The Justice Department will seek a short-term emergency stay to the bar on the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, a puzzling twist to a court case that appeared to end the policy outright.

As we all know, the repeal of the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy represented only part of the story. Now, the President, in association with the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, must certify the actual repeal, which would allow gays and lesbians to serve openly.

Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell doesn’t actually need to oppose Democrats’ proposals. He can simply declare that he opposes the Democrats’ plan thereby instantly making the issue a “controversy” for the media. By merely labeling any proposal “controversial” he can often succeed in making it less popular.

Barack Obama’s Department of Justice today argued in a federal court that the “repeal” of Don’t-Ask-Don’t-Tell signed by the President (which provides a pathway via certification to the Congress by the military, the Secretary of Defense, and the President that the DoD is ready to end DADT) means that there’s no need for them to continue their appeal of the Log Cabin Republicans’ case in the Ninth Circuit.

It is with great joy that I note the Senate passage and today’s signing by President Obama of a bill that should lead to the eventual repeal of “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” The policy was pure discrimination, and has no place in a fair and equal society. But the events of the last few days would not have happened without the past two years of tireless advocacy from the grassroots. It was some of best, unrelenting political activism in recent times, for which many deserve credit.

That said, change shouldn’t be this hard.

Notee what this historic moment says about President Obama’s system of governance: that the only thing he responds to is hostage-taking.

Before the DADT repeal vote on Saturday, the Senate will take up the DREAM Act. Both votes came up as a House amendment to a Senate amendment to a bill, so they only require one cloture vote, a motion to concur. If they invoke cloture with 60 votes, they would only need a simple majority after that, and Harry Reid will fill the amendment tree on the measures, so if something passes, it would look identical to what the House passed. With Senators Bennett and Lugar in the bag, a unified caucus would mean 60 votes. But given the nature of how the vote is being brought up, I think the overwhelmingly likely outcome is that it fails tomorrow.

Bob Corker, speaking softly to Olivier Knox, casually says that the START treaty won’t pass if Don’t Ask Don’t Tell or the DREAM Act get a vote tomorrow.

This was the trade made in the Senate last night; the Dems will get legislative repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, a couple judges, and probably the new START Treaty, and the Republicans will get the chance to massively cut spending early in the 112th Congress.