A basic civil right will finally be extended to thousands of men and women serving our nation in the military.

The Senate decisively passed a repeal of the 17-year-old discriminatory "don't ask, don't tell" policy that banned gays and lesbians from serving openly.

Eight Republicans joined Democrats Saturday in the 65-31 vote. The House already passed the stand-alone legislation earlier last week.

We congratulate Congress for doing right by our troops, and look forward to President Obama's signing of the legislation.

A full Pentagon review recently revealed that treating gays and lesbians like first-class citizens won't disrupt the fighting forces.

But the Clinton-era compromise has meant some 14,000 service members lost their military careers.

We had decried the handling of this repeal effort by the Democratic leadership for much of this year. The party early on delayed pursuing repeal, opting to give the military time to conduct a months-long review with a post-Election Day deadline. The move recklessly delayed and imperiled repeal.

Colorado's Rep. Jared Polis and Sen. Mark Udall rightly sought a compromise that would have allowed for Congress to repeal the law while waiting for the Pentagon's report, but nothing came of that effort.

Thankfully, repeal has finally arrived.

We urge the military to now quickly put in place new policies that give gay men and women equal standing among their peers.