James Joyner has some useful reflections on the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy:
One of the great misconceptions about DADT is that people think it began the ban on gays in the military. In fact, it was an attempt to allow gays to serve if they kept their sexuality to themselves. Perversely, however, it led to a witch hunt mentality in which suspected gays had to be “caught” since they couldn't be asked.As I've noted here more than once over the years, one of the more bemusing experiences I had in the military was the questioning for my Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information clearance as a cadet about to be commisioned as a military intelligence officer (albeit one detailed to the field artillery). This would have been late 1987 or early 1988, several years before DADT. There were a whole series of questions on homosexuality — Was I gay? Was I even a little bit gay? Had I ever thought about becoming gay? Could I envision myself turning gay? Was I sure? The rationale, apparently, was that, since gays were not allowed in the military and homosexual acts were subject to court martial, a closeted gay was subject to blackmail by the enemy.
On some level, that must have made sense. Homosexuality had been considered so socially devastating that if an enemy could uncover such preferences, they could blackmail you. But that's not been true for decades now. And DADT makes no more sense than a straight ban. Which is why it was nice to hear Robert Gibbs answering questions on Change.gov this week. A young man from Lansing, Michigan asked whether the Obama administration would repeal DADT. Gibbs chose to field the question, which he didn't have to do. "You don't hear a politician give a one-word answer much," he said. "But it's, ‘Yes.'” Repeal would still require an act of Congress, but unlike in the early-90s, it's easy to imagine such legislation passing smoothly, and without much fanfare.
