With that in mind, how on Earth could we ask anyone to go to such great lengths to hide who and what they are and remain anonymous in a hostile environment? In what world is that right and when is it ever acceptable to measure the viability of civil rights by popular opinion?

When black soldiers were still serving in segregated units, they were still dying for this country. But it was wrong to segregate them, and there are many parallels in the situations beyond simple discrimination. In fact, the military was desegregated two decades before the rest of the country. I know many are loathe to make the comparison and scoff at it. But it is absolutely, 100% apt, particular since the arguments are the same: there were racists in the military who hated & belittled blacks in the same way that there are homophobes in the Army who hate and belittle gays.

The only difference between a soldier that won’t bunk with a gay and one that won’t bunk with a black is a few years. And we cannot, under any circumstances, allow the perception of practicality to justify the limitations or elimination of rights. That leads only to the continuance and strengthening of oppression and discrimination, no matter how noble the sentiment may seem at the time.

That being said, I know of several prominent “famous” (hate that word but) Democrats, as well as friends and family who are Democrats, who openly spoke of wishing death to George W. Bush. A sentiment I saw genuinely applauded. So it is kind of hard for me to get on all Republicans for small portions of supporters being socially backward as distasteful as it often seems.

Politics seems to bring about the absolute worst emotions in people, not dissimilar to sports. We begin to see things through only our own lenses and excuse our own irrational hate as a means to an end.

Most of these issues are poorly constructed from both sides of the aisle. Of course sexual orientation should not be an issue in the military, but considering it is not something that has been widely accepted in the general population to demand that the Military make is simple and so is a little far fetched.

We (all humanity) make a habit of this in the world at large. Even though something is not universal, we want it to be universally accepted, so we apply it as an absolute when it is far from it. The more dramatic a side can make the debate the more difficult it is for any consensus to be drawn. Politicians on both sides excel at the dramatic.

People who are this backward just should not be in government. -Roz