Senate repeals the ban

In a small sign that the Senate has not entirely relinquished a sense of its responsibilities, it finally repealed the dishonorable policy of "don't ask, don't tell" today. It's about time.

Not that the regressive forces went quietly:

Opponents of lifting the ban said the change could harm the unit cohesion that is essential to effective military operations, particularly in combat, and deter some Americans from enlisting or pursuing a career in the military. They noted that despite support for repealing the ban from Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, other military commanders have warned that changing the practice would prove disruptive.

I wasn't around for it, but I would bet real money that these same arguments were advanced (if you can use that term) when the military ended segregation of African-Americans, too.

I already noted that actual research by the Rand Corporation in 1993 showed little risk to unit cohesion from lifting the ban. It's probably too much to expect some Republican members of the Senate to pay attention to facts, but the rest of us ought to be aware of them.

If "some Americans" avoid the military because they can't stomach the idea of serving with openly gay people, I say the military is better off. We don't need to cater to bigots.

“This isn’t broke,” Senator James M. Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, said of about the policy. “It is working very well.”

It's working well only for less-evolved life forms like yourself, Senator Inhofe.

“In the middle of a military conflict, is not the time to do it,” said Senator Saxby Chambliss, Republican of Georgia.

If we waited for peace, the ban would never be repealed. I'm sure Senator Chambliss knows that, too.

The AP quotes Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, boiling down the issue to its starkest, most basic terms:

"No matter how I look at the issue," Mullen said, "I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens."

That terrible truth didn't bother Senator John McCain, who "led the opposition" according to the AP.

He blamed elite liberals with no military experience for pushing their social agenda on troops during wartime.

"They will do what is asked of them," McCain said of service members. "But don't think there won't be a great cost."

Senator McCain, I'm tired of you. It wouldn't have been so bad if you had just stated, right from the start, that you would never support openly declared gays serving in the military. But you weren't that honest: you said you'd defer to the generals and admirals, that you'd let them decide when the ban should go. You thought you could hide behind the military brass forever, that they would never push for repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" in your lifetime.

I wish I could have seen your face when Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Admiral Mullen declared their support for repeal a year ago. I'll bet you were flummoxed. How the hell would you justify your prejudice now?

You bought yourself a year by demanding a study, even in the face of the Rand Corporation report more than fifteen years prior. A year passed, the report on the latest study arrived, and you got desperate, because it reached the same conclusion the earlier Rand study did. What to do, what to do?

Oh, right: assume nobody will read it, and hide behind an argument that the report discredits: the old standby, vague concern over "unit cohesion."

I laughed when The Daily Show expertly served you up as a hypocrite, but your biind, unreasoning prejudice is no longer funny. Even worse, you tried to hide your prejudice. The rest of your no-voting cabal, like Senator Inhofe, had the courtesy not to pretend their minds could ever be changed by evidence. You tried to play the middle and hoped you would never be called on it. Well, you were, and you finally had to show your true colors.

You're contemptible, Senator McCain.

At least a majority of your colleagues stood for honor over bigotry today.