With the passage yesterday of the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, some good news peaked through the cloudy political season. I heard a portion of John McCain's speech yesterday, and was flabbergasted that no journalists pointed out that, quite contrary to the claims of "real harm" to the military, it has been demonstrated that the services are pretty open to the prospect of serving with openly gay and lesbian fellow service members. So, he's either ignorant of the study the committee on which he serves reviewed and had hearings on, or he's lying.
While Congress deserves applause, there's a part of me that has to wonder. This stand-alone bill passed with relative ease, which makes me wonder why the lengthy Sturm un Drang, years and years of hand-wringing and back-and-forth, fed mostly by ignorance and bigotry, as well as underestimating both the humanity and professionalism of our military.
We are a far better country today than we were yesterday. Now, all we need is to get rid of marriage discrimination, as well as laws on the books in multiple states that allow employers to fire people for their sexual orientation. A big step forward needs some recognition, though.
