In Which They Serve

Homosexuals have never taken President Obama seriously when he has reiterated his commitment to repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" rule that allows gays to serve in the military but not openly. After all, the only issue he's dragged his heels on more is gun control. But Obama made the obvious point that Republican members of Congress have kept him from acting more boldly on the issue, and that repealing the rule and allowing gays to serve openly in the military requires patience and can't be done overnight given the current politics in Washington.

This week the House of Representatives gave the President, who has been yearning for good news lately in light of the BP disaster, a moral victory of sorts. The House passed a bill allowing gays to serve openly in the military pending a review from and approval by the four branches of the armed forces. The review, when completed, is likely to allow what the gay and lesbian population has longed for - to serve in the military with pride and dignity.

Not surprisingly, congressional Republicans have opposed it, claiming it's a left-wing social experiment that shouldn't be undertaken while these United States are in the middle of two wars. This is a laughable argument; what was wrong with allowing gays to serve openly in the military in peacetime, as President Clinton tried to do in 1993? And if it's good enough to try right-wing social experimentation in the form of treating corporations like people with regards to campaign financing, it should be okay to allow left-wing social experimentation as well. Allowing gays to serve openly in the military is not that. Most servicemen and servicewomen already serve knowingly alongside gay soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. They just can't say they do. Other than that, they're perfectly comfortable serving with their homosexual counterparts and would feel even more so if they gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in arms could come out of the closet.

A majority of Americans are for changing the policy and letting homosexuals serve openly in the military. So are most conservatives. The House has helped Obama by taking the step to make this change happen. If Senate Republicans try to filibuster any military appropriations bill that includes this repeal of the current policy, as they have threatened to do, they will only prove Obama right - that Washington politics is stopping him from moving forward on this issue - and gays will likely be easier on Obama. They should be, once they see who the real villain is.

Yes, it's sad that Obama can't just sign an executive order and allow gays to serve openly in the military, just as President Harry Truman did when he racially desegregated the troops in 1948. But Truman didn't have to deal with cable news pundits and the kind of ultrapartisanship we have today. He did suffer some political consequences, but he didn't have to do it through a 24-hour news cycle.