The legislation to repeal the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy would only go into effect when the president, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and the defense secretary sign off on it. This morning, during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said it could be years until he’d support implementing repeal.

“My personal approach to this would be that until all the training has been completed that until all the service chiefs are comfortable that the risks to unit cohesion and combat effectiveness … had been addressed to their satisfaction and to my satisfaction, I would not sign the certification,” Gates said.