Dale Carpenter at Volokh Conspiracy has a very interesting post about gays being discharged from the military. Whether you think it’s right or wrong to do this (and I think it’s wrong), it’s happening less. In fact, gays were discharged from the military more when Bill Clinton was President and agreed to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law (yes, it is a Federal law, not a military policy) about homosexual servicemen and servicewomen. Since 2001, however, the trend has reversed, and fewer and fewer gays are being discharged.
The reason why this should be so after 2001 is obvious — we need all the soldiers, sailors, Marines, and aviators we can get. It’s simply not as big a priority for the Pentagon to worry about whether a soldier is gay than whether the soldier has a skill that can be used in Iraq or Afghanistan. A good soldier is worth a lot these days, and the Pentagon is clearly coming to the conclusion that one’s sexual preference simply doesn’t have a lot to do with whether one is a good soldier or not.
Those soldiers who are still being booted out for homosexuality? I’m willing to bet that a great many of them would have been washed out anyway, and that the JAGs assigned to these cases approach them with great distaste and reluctance.
So do you want the truth? Are you sure you can handle it? Here it is. “Don’t ask, don’t tell” was bad for gays, bad for the military, and bad for the country. It’s time to abandon the silly idea that gays cannot serve with honor. It’s time to repeal 10 U.S.C. § 654, and replace it with nothing.
Hmmm … suspiciously well-informed.