The US military said it is accepting openly gay recruits for the first time in the country’s history, after a judge upheld an order ending a controversial ban on homosexual troops.

The US military is accepting openly gay recruits for the first time in history, even as it tries in the courts to slow the movement to abolish its “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

A US judge today moved to end the military’s 17-year-old ban on openly gay troops.

A federal judge in Southern California declared the US military's ban on openly gay service members to be unconstitutional.