For gay American troops serving their country in Afghanistan and Iraq, and sometimes dying for it, the Pentagon’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was a constant reminder of their second-class status. No longer. Soon they will be able to serve openly without fear.

Attitudes have changed for the better, and U.S. President Barack Obama has just won Senate approval for a historic emancipation reform that will scrap Bill Clinton’s much-criticized 1993 directive that allowed gays and lesbians to serve, but only if they hid their sexual orientation. Historians liken the reform to Harry Truman’s 1948 order on racial equality in the military. Today, 77 percent of Americans welcome the change compared to just 44 percent in 1993.

Indeed, gay friends of Maj. Alan Rogers, a war hero who was killed in Iraq in 2008, left celebratory flowers, a rainbow lei and a handwritten note at his snow-covered grave in Arlington National Cemetery, the New York Daily News reported. The note said simply: “Alan, we did it.” Soon soldiers in the 2-million-plus U.S. military will no longer have to live a lie, to serve their country.

This will bring U.S. policy into line with many allies. …

Yet 14,000 Americans have been forced out of the military since 1993 for being gay. They were victims of legalized bigotry.

The landmark vote was adroitly steered through the Senate by Harry Reid, the Democratic majority leader, who persuaded some Republicans to support the move before a new, more conservative Congress assembles in the new year. …

How much more change he can deliver when the new Congress assembles in January with its cohort of tea party Republicans is an open question. …