U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Congress should act quickly, before new members take their seats, to repeal the military’s ban on gays serving openly in the military.

He, however, did not sound optimistic that the current Congress would use a brief post-election session to get rid of the law known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

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His words stand in stark contrast to the new commandant of the US Marine Corps, Gen. James Amos, who said Saturday that now is the wrong time to repeal the policy that forbids gays from serving openly in the armed forces.

“I would like to see the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” but I’m not sure what the prospects for that are,” Gates said Saturday, as he traveled to defense and diplomatic meetings in Australia. Unless the lame-duck Congress acts, the repeal effort is considered dead for now.

FULL AP STORY FOLLOWS BELOW