[Guest post] Military can accept gays. In other news: world does not end.

Once again, the US military leads our country in the fight for securing the civil rights of all. Today, defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, formally certified to the president that the readiness of our military will not be harmed if gays and lesbians honorably serve our country without lying about their sexual orientation. As it did in the past when it recognized the right of women, Negroes, and atheists to serve as equals with other soldiers, the US military reminds us that we are one nation united with a common purpose: to preserve and protect the freedom and liberty of all.

I know that Wy will be less than enthusiastic about this event. I hope he forgives me for taking advantage of his gracious permission to post something here that is so very contrary to his expressed views. I respect Wy's right to state his religious objections to homosexuality. I have no quarrel with anyone expressing their religious views. But when it comes to matters of national policy, something greater than the dogma of a particular religion must guide our decisions. We need to choose what is right because it is objectively right. In this case, I believe that our society has matured to the point that we can accept gays and lesbians as our full fledged brothers and sisters without fear born of ignorance, without abusive prejudice, without hate. I predict that many years from now we'll look back at this event, and the eventual repeal of DoMA with amazement that such injustice could ever have been allowed in our country -- as we now look back at slavery and Jim Crow.

Posted at 19:58 by Nadz   [/guest/nadz]   Comments | Perm Link |
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