What follows the repeal of “Don’t ask, don’t tell?”

>>> don't tell" would be signed by the president likely on wednesday morning.

>> the military's ban on gay service members could still be in effect for another six months to a year despite congress approving the repeal in a historic vote this weekend. and for the time being , openly gay service members could still face possible expulsion from the military. joe salmanese is president of the human rights campaign and really led this fight. congratulations to you.

>> thank you.

>> how did it come back from the dead? someone was telling me that stanley hoyer was an unsung hero. when the bill came from the house he fast-tracked it and cut through all the procedural stuff.

>> i spoke to congressman hoyer last friday night and he with our legislative director and others kind of revised the bill and decided that they would bring it back up for a second time in the house as you saw last week. did that and then sent it over to the senate as a privileged message which meant that once it got to the senate it wouldn't take nearly as much time as it would have otherwise. so it was a, as he said, 100 stars were going to need up the right way for this to work and they did and it did.

>> what's next? six months to a year certain things have to be certified by the secretary and other military leaders, service chiefs.

>> yeah.

>> do you fear that there will be a foot-dragging, especially in the marine corps ?

>> i don't think so, i think that the implementation studies certainly creates a much more expeditious path, i think, than people thought it might have. i think it's in the interest of the administration to get this done as expeditiously as possible.

>> that's what they said they wanted. they wanted a clear path to being able to manage the change rather than having courts at various stages.

>> right.

>> -- ordering them to do something precipitously.

>> and don't forget, the republicans' case continues to be in play which also, to may way of thinking, means this is a process they've got to get through rather expeditiously and i think it's -- the president and our allies in congress didn't bring it this far for it to drag out any longer than it has to so our role is going to be to press the administration to get this done as quickly as possib possib possible.

>> what problems do you anticipate and what do you think the real challenges are in combat for the front-line troops.

>> as the report spelled out, far fewer than anybody had anticipated, i think that they're going to have to go along the lines of, as you would in the workplace. sort of the military version of human resource and personnel matters, but also, there's a whole series of excess around benefits which the existence of doma is going to continue to complicate a bit, in terms of those sorts of issues notification, next of kin, nonspousal beneficiary. there's a whole range of things to look at and put in place so the same working group that was working together on gathering this information over the course of the year will now have to get together and lay out a timeline and a working plan to get this done. as i said i think it's in everyone's best interest , particularly the administration's to get this done as quickly and expeditiously as possible.

>> you did an amazing job for your cause and props to you and props to rachel maddow because she -- in the broadcast world she was on it.

>> she was down there at those first hearings and it was great to see her there and she has just really been such a heroic force in enabling these service members to tell their stories.

>> changing the conversation.

>> yeah.

>> thank you so much.

>> thank you.