Well, it's finally done. The country is not going to stroke the military's homophobia any longer. On Saturday, the Senate repealed the Clinton-era policy of Don't Ask, Don't Tell concerning gay people in the services by a vote of 65-31. It was a measure that had to pass during the current lame duck because, believe it or not, the incoming congress, chock full o' Republicans--controlling the House and more in the Senate--would surely not support the change. And gay people would have to wait who knows how much longer to receive a full measure of civil liberties in the Land of the Free.
A recent Pentagon study verified what anyone who's paid attention to young people at all should have already known, i.e., that they really aren't too disturbed by the notion of somebody being homosexual. Not like many of the fossils are. The study showed that even in the notoriously conservative military ranks, most soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines already know gay people among them, and the sky has not fallen down because they're there.
Since the current contorted policy has been in effect over 13,000 people have been expelled from the US military for being what and who they are. To me, the idea that someone would willing choose to be a homosexual is patently absurd. I can only suppose that many in the military and in the Congress have come to the same conclusion.
The new law is going to allow the military to take its time to fully implement the new policy. There's going to be a lot of training and education to be done. It may be months. And while that's happening the current policy stays in effect. Naturally, the law is not popular with all our defenders of freedom. Can you guess their objections? Of course: threats to unit cohesion and good order and discipline, the same tired old abstractions that have been trotted out for years, and indeed, which the DADT policy was justified with in the first place. Well, the hairy-chested men are just going to have to get used to it. Including John McCain, who spearheaded the Senate opposition to the change. You know, that former "maverick" who has transformed himself into a complete whore for any policy his GOP masters push.
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