Just because the military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy, which restricted openly gay, bisexual and lesbian citizens from serving in the military, has been repealed doesn't mean that openly gay people will be getting into West Point academy right up until the day the law goes into full effect. West Point has rejected a lesbian cadet who resigned from West Point last year, because she refused to hide her sexual orientation anymore, from readmission into the academy.

After years of fighting and debate over the policy, which was passed in 1993 under the Clinton administration, President Obama signed the repeal into law last December. More than 13,500 service members have been dismissed under the law in the 17-plus years since it was passed. Even though it was signed into law, it won't go into effect until 60 days after the president and senior defense advisers "certify that it won’t hurt troops’ ability to fight"—at this point, there are estimates that could happen by late summer or early fall.

"While the don’t ask, don’t tell policy was recently changed and will be repealed, the effective date has not yet been determined. Due to this situation, West Point is unable to offer her readmission at this time," said Lt. Col. Sherri Reed, the academy’s director of public affairs, in a statement.

Katherine Miller, the cadet who was rejected, was ranked ninth in her class before she left last year. The Post reports that keeping her sexuality a secret violated the academy’s honor code and nagged at her conscience, especially when her fellow cadets made derogatory comments about gays. The academy added that she had "done exceptionally well academically, militarily and physically," so the decision was purely based on her sexual orientation. Miller became one of the more prominent faces in the DADT debate, and she's written extensively about her experiences being closeted in the military.

Nevertheless, Alexander Nicholson, executive director of Servicemembers United, an organization of gay and lesbian troops and veterans, doubts there will be any openly gay applicants to this years class, and thinks it will take more time for the military to escape the shadow of the policy: “I think that should be expected from West Point. I think their hands are tied... I just don’t envision that first cadre of new cadets going in this year who would think ‘I’m not going to have to live under the cloud of don’t ask, don’t tell.' I think that will come next year.“