Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) yesterday filed for cloture on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011, henceforward NDFA11, containing a conditional repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. The vote will be on Tuesday, Sept. 21. There is a reasonable hope of getting to 60 votes for starting debate, and then ending debate and voting. There is no doubt that the bill will pass if we get that far. The question is whether the Republicans will out themselves as not caring a damn for the troops or the wars by filibustering the whole bill.
The prospect of repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell as part of NDFA11 is good news, but it has generated a bit of irrational exuberance around here and elsewhere. It will happen. That's not the problem. But how will it happen? When will it take effect? And then what?
Let's see what we can learn from history, and think about whether we can avoid repeating it. I'll give you a hint: We are going to have to do this non-repeal repeal over again, and again, and again. To see just why, you have to follow me down the rabbit hole to Cloud-Cuckoo-Land in the sky. (Yes, it's that bad.)
Non-repeal repeal
First, we need the text of the "repeal" section of NDFA11. Pay attention to what it doesn't say as much as to what it does.
H.R.5136
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011
Sec. 536. Department of Defense policy concerning homosexuality in the Armed Forces.
(a) Comprehensive Review on the Implementation of a Repeal of 10 U.S.C. 654-
(1) IN GENERAL- On March 2, 2010, the Secretary of Defense issued a memorandum directing the Comprehensive Review on the Implementation of a Repeal of 10 U.S.C. 654 (section 654 of title 10, United States Code).
(2) OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE OF REVIEW- The Terms of Reference accompanying the Secretary's memorandum established the following objectives and scope of the ordered review:
(A) Determine any impacts to military readiness, military effectiveness and unit cohesion, recruiting/retention, and family readiness that may result from repeal of the law and recommend any actions that should be taken in light of such impacts.
But don't consider the impacts on the lives of those discharged under DADT, and don't plan to do anything about that, including reinstatement, changing the form of "undesirable" and other less-than-honorable discharges, or veterans' rights.
(B) Determine leadership, guidance, and training on standards of conduct and new policies.
(C) Determine appropriate changes to existing policies and regulations, including but not limited to issues regarding personnel management, leadership and training, facilities, investigations, and benefits.
Let's see. There are gays in the military now, under current policies and regulations. You don't have to change anything except not trying to get rid of them. Don't change personnel management, which is officially agnostic about gayness now. Ditto leadership and training. Especially don't change facilities. Are we to give in to the bigots, and segregate gays as soon as we officially know who whey are? Yeah, no investigations, duh. What's to change about benefits?
There. Done. Now back to point B: TELL THEM.
(D) Recommend appropriate changes (if any) to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
If any? LOL. That would be a much longer diary, and one that I am not qualified to write. Anyone?
(E) Monitor and evaluate existing legislative proposals to repeal 10 U.S.C. 654 and proposals that may be introduced in the Congress during the period of the review.
(F) Assure appropriate ways to monitor the workforce climate and military effectiveness that support successful follow-through on implementation.
We already know that workforce climate and military effectiveness will improve. We already monitor them. What does this even—Oh, wait, I get it. They can Ask now, and We have to Tell. Watch for screaming Righties as soon as they get the first leaks from the studies.
(G) Evaluate the issues raised in ongoing litigation involving 10 U.S.C. 654.
Because you only have until the California case declaring DADT unconstitutional gets to the Supreme Court. What odds will you give me on Justice Kennedy's vote on this case?
(b) Effective Date- The amendments made by subsection (f) shall take effect 60 days after the date on which the last of the following occurs:
(1) The Secretary of Defense has received the report required by the memorandum of the Secretary referred to in subsection (a).
Planned for December.
(2) The President transmits to the congressional defense committees a written certification, signed by the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stating each of the following:
(A) That the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have considered the recommendations contained in the report and the report's proposed plan of action.
Duh. No problem there.
(B) That the Department of Defense has prepared the necessary policies and regulations to exercise the discretion provided by the amendments made by subsection (f).
Aha! Now we come to it. In other words, the President et al. cannot start the clock on the end of DADT until after the Armed Forces have done absolutely everything they can think of to get ready. Who wants to start a pool on how many things they can think of, and how long they can drag that out? Dibs on February 2017, when Obama is out of office.
In fact, it will happen sooner than that, but only because we will not stand for this chicanery. We have to get a real repeal.
(C) That the implementation of necessary policies and regulations pursuant to the discretion provided by the amendments made by subsection (f) is consistent with the standards of military readiness, military effectiveness, unit cohesion, and recruiting and retention of the Armed Forces.
Do you remember that the Republican bill for the Medicare drug benefit allowed re-importation from Canada at much lower prices? No? Maybe that was because it was only to go into effect if the FDA could certify that there was absolutely no danger in doing so. Those of us who do remember that provision also know that it sank without trace, in accordance with the plan.
Now why would our side do that to us on this issue? Oh. Silly me.
Lieberman To Take Lead On 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Repeal
I will be proud to be a sponsor of the important effort to enable patriotic gay Americans to defend our national security and our founding values of freedom and opportunity," said Lieberman in a statement.
"I have opposed the current policy of preventing gay Americans from openly serving in the military since its enactment in 1993. To exclude one group of Americans from serving in the armed forces is contrary to our fundamental principles as outlined in the Declaration of Independence and weakens our defenses by denying our military the service of a large group of Americans who can help our cause. I am grateful for the leadership of President Obama to repeal the policy and the support of Secretary Gates and Chief of Staff Admiral Mullen.
From back when he was an ardent supporter of the Clinton Health Care bill, right?
Your problem is that you believe that politicians mean what they say.
Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown
Not me, Mr. Mayor, no way, nuh-uh! Especially not Joe Lieberman.
(c) No Immediate Effect on Current Policy- Section 654 of title 10, United States Code, shall remain in effect until such time that all of the requirements and certifications required by subsection (b) are met. If these requirements and certifications are not met, section 654 of title 10, United States Code, shall remain in effect.
So we are going to go right on viciously destroying people's careers for as long as we can, until there is real repeal.
(d) Benefits- Nothing in this section, or the amendments made by this section, shall be construed to require the furnishing of benefits in violation of section 7 of title 1, United States Code (relating to the definitions of `marriage' and `spouse' and referred to as the `Defense of Marriage Act').
No spouse benefits whatsoever. Housing, health care, pension...In open defiance of the Full Faith and Credit clause of the Constitution, which requires states and the Federal government to accept official acts of other states.
So that's another repeal we need, or another Supreme Court case.
(e) No Private Cause of Action- Nothing in this section, or the amendments made by this section, shall be construed to create a private cause of action.
"Private right of action" is legalese for allowing individuals to take a case to court. That also means no class actions.
Trust us. We have your best interests at heart, and we know what we are doing. You won't need to go to court to get your rights enforced, so we won't let you.
Congress has the power under the Constitution to say what kinds of case the courts can hear. The Courts have made it clear that that power is not absolute. Whether this will have to be another repeal, or simply declared unconstitutional, I have no idea. The courts could finesse the question, and declare that a private right of action exists independent of this fake repeal.
(f) Treatment of 1993 Policy-
(1) TITLE 10- Upon the effective date established by subsection (b), chapter 37 of title 10, United States Code, is amended--
(A) by striking section 654; and
(B) in the table of sections at the beginning of such chapter, by striking the item relating to section 654.
(2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT- Upon the effective date established by subsection (b), section 571 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 (10 U.S.C. 654 note) is amended by striking subsections (b), (c), and (d).
Got it? This is the non-repeal repeal. Actual repeal doesn't happen until the President, SecDef, and Chairman, JCOS can tell the military, "Time's up." Which the GOP and the forces of reaction in the military will claim is never. And we will still need at least two more repeals after that, for gay marriage and for being able to sue.
I'm pretty sure I know what Joe Lie-berman is doing, but why is everybody else going along with it? Well, it turns out that we know something about such things, and they give clues to how long all of this will take.
The stroke of the pen that wasn't
The relevant sorry history is that of military desegregation, both before and after President Harry Truman's famous Executive Order 9981 in 1948. That's where the "stroke of the pen" myth comes from. Here is the actual timeline, with my notes on the lessons I draw.
Desegregation of the Armed Forces: Chronology
1945
September 1945: Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson appoints a board of three general officers to investigate the Army's policy with respect to African-Americans and to prepare a new policy that would provide for the efficient use of African-Americans in the Army. This board is called the Gillem Board, after its chairman, General Alvan C. Gillem, Jr.
After Blacks had served with distinction in the Revolution, the Civil War, the World Wars, and other conflicts, but always in segregated units and almost always under exclusively White officers. The question was not whether Blacks could be good soldiers, but whether the military would fall apart if Blacks were put in with racists. Which racist officers were determined to prevent, regardless of the merits or the facts.
October 1, 1945: The Gillem Board holds its first meeting. Four months of investigation follow.
1946
February 1946: African-American World War II veteran Isaac Woodard is attacked and blinded by policemen in Aiken, South Carolina.
As German-Americans were treated during World War I, and Japanese-Americans during World War II, and similarly for other groups on other occasions. Only Blacks got it far worse, regardless of whether there was a war on, and regardless of the enemy.
April 1946: The report of the Gillem Board, "Utilization of Negro Manpower in the Postwar Army Policy," is issued. The report concludes that the Army's future policy should be to "eliminate, at the earliest practicable moment, any special consideration based on race." The report, however, does not question that segregation would continue to underlie the Army's policy toward African-Americans. Secretary of the Army Kenneth Royall later characterized the policy recommended by the Gillem Board as "equality of opportunity on the basis of segregation."
The whole "Separate but equal" nonsense gave rise to the saying, "Whose oxymoron is gored?"
July 1946: Two African-American veterans and their wives are taken from their car near Monroe, Georgia, by a white mob and shot to death; their bodies are found to contain 60 bullets.
Can you say, hate crime? The Right still can't.
July 30, 1946: Attorney General Tom Clark announces that President Truman has instructed the Justice Department to "proceed with all its resources to investigate [the Monroe, Georgia atrocity] and other crimes of oppression so as to ascertain if any Federal statute can be applied."
September 12, 1946: In a letter to the National Urban League, President Truman says that the government has "an obligation to see that the civil rights of every citizen are fully and equally protected."
December 6, 1946: President Truman appoints the President's Committee on Civil Rights.
1947
May 1947: The President's Advisory Commission on Universal Training gives a report to the President in which it concludes that "nothing could be more tragic for the future attitude of our people, and for the unity of our Nation, than a program [referring to the Truman administration's proposed Universal Military Training program] in which our Federal Government forced our young manhood to live for a period of time in an atmosphere which emphasized or bred class or racial difference."
October 29, 1947: The President's Committee on Civil Rights issues its landmark report, To Secure These Rights. The report condemns segregation wherever it exists and criticizes specifically segregation in the armed forces. The report recommends legislation and administrative action "to end immediately all discrimination and segregation based on race, color, creed or national origin in...all branches of the Armed Services."
November 1947: Clark Clifford presents a lengthy memorandum to President Truman which argues that the civil rights issue and the African-American vote are important elements in a winning strategy for the 1948 campaign.
Thus provoking Strom Thurmond's Dixiecrat campaign for President, and at the same time a new Civil Rights movement.
November 1947: A. Philip Randolph and Grant Reynolds organize the Committee Against Jim Crow in Military Service and Training.
1948
January 1948: President Truman decides to end segregation in the armed forces and the civil service through administrative action (executive order) rather than through legislation.
February 2, 1948: President Truman announces in a special message to Congress on civil rights issues that he has "instructed the Secretary of Defense to take steps to have the remaining instances of discrimination in the armed services eliminated as rapidly as possible."
March 22, 1948: African-American leaders meet with President Truman and urge him to insist on antisegregation amendments in the legislation being considered in Congress that would reinstitute the draft.
March 27, 1948: Twenty African-American organizations meeting in New York City issue the "Declaration of Negro Voters," which demands, among other things, "that every vestige of segregation and discrimination in the armed forces be forthwith abolished."
March 30, 1948: A. Philip Randolph, representing the Committee Against Jim Crow in Military Service and Training, testifies to the Senate Armed Services Committee that African-Americans would refuse to serve in the armed forces if a proposed new draft law does not forbid segregation.
April 26, 1948: Sixteen African-American leaders tell Secretary of Defense James V. Forrestal that African-Americans will react strongly unless the armed forces end segregation.
May 1948: President Truman's staff considers advising the President to create a committee to oversee the integration of the armed forces.
June 26, 1948: A. Philip Randolph announces the formation of the League for Non-Violent Civil Disobedience Against Military Segregation. Randolph informed President Truman on June 29, 1948 that unless the President issued an executive order ending segregation in the armed forces, African-American youth would resist the draft law.
July 13, 1948: The platform committee at the Democratic National Convention rejects a recommendation put forward by Mayor Hubert H. Humphrey of Minneapolis calling for abolition of segregation in the armed forces. President Truman and his advisors support and the platform committee approves a moderate platform plank on civil rights intended to placate the South.
Damned politicians, you can't trust them farther than you can throw them. Not even Truman.
July 14, 1948: Delegates to the Democratic National Convention vote to overrule the platform committee and the Truman administration in favor of a liberal civil rights plank, one that called for, among other things, the desegregation of the armed forces.
Oops. Um, maybe we meant that after all?
Immediately following July 14, 1948: While his staff is drafting an executive order that would end segregation in the armed forces, President Truman decides to include in the order the establishment of a presidential committee to implement the order.
July 26, 1948: President Truman signs Executive Order 9981, which states, "It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin." The order also establishes the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services.
The famous stroke of the pen, years delayed. And then the military saluted, said, "Sir, yes, sir!" and fixed everything immediately. Didn't they?
July 26, 1948: Army staff officers state anonymously to the press that Executive Order 9981 does not specifically forbid segregation in the Army.
Oh, right, how silly of me. Of course this is what they did. Stuck a thumb in the President's eye. Like MacArthur, later on in Korea.
July 27, 1948: Army Chief of Staff General Omar N. Bradley states that desegregation will come to the Army only when it becomes a fact in the rest of American society.
Segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation as long as possible!
July 29, 1948: President Truman states in a press conference that the intent of Executive Order 9981 is to end segregation in the armed forces.
August 2, 1948: Democratic National Committee chairman J. Howard McGrath meets with A. Philip Randolph and other leaders representing an organization called the League for Non-violent Civil Disobedience Against Military Segregation and assures them that the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services would seek to end segregation in the armed forces. A short time after this meeting, Randolph announced that his organization's civil disobedience campaign had ended.
Our organization has a bigger name than your organization. LOL.
August 14, 1948: Secretary of the Army Kenneth Royall is reported in the press to have admitted that "segregation in the Army must go," but not immediately.
September 18, 1948: The White House announces the names of the members of the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services (called the Fahy Committee, after its chairman, Charles Fahy). The committee's five active members include two African-Americans.
Ca. October 9, 1948: The Navy announces that it is extending the policy of integration that it had begun in the closing months of World War II.
One down. Maybe.
December 1948: Secretary of the Army Kenneth Royall proposes to the Secretary of Defense James V. Forrestal that the Army create an experimental integrated unit that would test how integration would affect the Army.
December 1948: Secretary of the Air Force Stuart Symington submits an integration plan to President Truman that proposes assigning African-Americans on the basis of merit alone.
Two down?
1949
January 12, 1949: The Fahy Committee holds its first meeting with President Truman and the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Defense. "I want the job done," the President said, "and I want it done in a way so that everyone will be happy to cooperate to get it done."
January 13, 1949: The Fahy Committee holds its first hearings. Representatives of the Army defend segregation of African-Americans. The Marine Corps also defends its segregation policy and admits that only one of its 8,200 officers is African-American. The Navy and Air Force both indicate they will integrate their units. The Navy admits that only five of its 45,000 officers are African-American.
Ca. January 22, 1949: The Air Force tells the press it has completed plans for full integration of its units.
March 28, 1949: The three service secretaries testify before the Fahy Committee. Secretary of the Air Force Stuart Symington and Secretary of the Navy John L. Sullivan both testify that they are opposed to segregation and are pursuing policies to integrate their services. Secretary of the Army Kenneth Royall argues in favor of maintaining segregation, saying that the Army "was not an instrument for social evolution."
April 1, 1949: Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson issues a directive to the Secretaries of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force which says it is the Department of Defense's policy that there should be equality of treatment and opportunity for all in the armed services, and that "qualified Negro personnel shall be assigned to fill any type of position...without regard to race."
May 11, 1949: Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson approves the integration plans of the Air Force, but rejects those of the Army and the Navy.
Maybe one and a half down, then.
Following May 11, 1949: The Fahy Committee makes recommendations to the Army and Navy regarding changes in their integration plans. The committee recommended to the Army, among other things, that it desegregate its units and abolish its 10% enlistment quota for African-American recruits.
That's its maximum quota.
Ca. June 7, 1949: Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson accepts a revised Navy integration plan.
Back up to two, then.
June 7, 1949: Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson rejects the Army's revised integration plan and formally asks the Army to consider the Fahy Committee's recommendations when drafting another revision of its plan.
July 5, 1949: Secretary of the Army Gordon Gray and Army Chief of Staff General Omar N. Bradley present a revised plan to the Fahy Committee which would maintain segregation in Army units and continue the 10% recruitment quota for African-Americans.
July 25 and 27, 1949: Charles Fahy advises President Truman, Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson, and Secretary of the Army Gordon Gray that the proposed Army integration policy should not be accepted as fulfilling the provisions of Executive Order 9981.
August to September, 1949: Discussions between the Fahy Committee and the Army bring no resolution to their differences over the issues of segregation in Army units and the 10% recruitment quota for African-Americans.
September 27, 1949: The Army informs the Fahy Committee that it is sending its revised integration plan to the Secretary of Defense. A copy of the plan was not provided to the Fahy Committee.
Here, you can have a thumb in the eye, too.
September 30, 1949: Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson approves the Army's integration plan, which would maintain segregated units and the 10% enlistment quota for African-Americans.
October 6, 1949: President Truman, as a press conference, calls the Army's integration plan "a progress report" and says that his goal is the integration of the Army.
October 11, 1949: Charles Fahy writes President Truman that the Army's integration plan would in fact maintain segregation.
Ca. late November 1949: The Army completes another revision of its integration plan and submits it for approval. The plan still includes provisions that would maintain segregated units and the 10% recruitment quota for African Americans.
Ca. late November 1949: Charles Fahy warns the Army that the Fahy Committee will not approve the Army's revised integration plan and will release a statement to the press condemning it.
Ca. early December 1949: The White House asks the Fahy Committee not to issue its threatened statement condemning the Army's integration plan, and instead to make recommendations for modifications to the plan.
December 15, 1949: The Fahy Committee submits to the White House its recommendations for modifications to the Army's integration plan, including the elimination of segregated units and the 10% recruitment quota for African-Americans.
December 27, 1949: Secretary of the Army Gordon Gray meets with Charles Fahy to discuss changes in the Army's integration plan. Gray agrees to integrate the Army's units, but wants to do so gradually.
1950
January 14, 1950: The Fahy Committee approves the Army's integration plan, despite the issue of the 10% recruitment quota for African-Americans being still unresolved.
January 16, 1950: The Fahy Committee informs President Truman of its approval of the Army's integration plan, and the Army officially issues its new integration policy in Special Regulations No. 600-629-1.
Ca. February 1, 1950: President Truman decides the Fahy Committee should stay in existence until the Army's use of the 10% recruitment quota for African-Americans is ended.
March 1, 1950: Secretary of the Army Gordon Gray informs President Truman that, based on earlier conversations, he understands that if the Army abandons its 10% recruitment quota for African-Americans, and if a disproportional number of African-Americans enters the Army as a result, then the Army has the President's approval to reinstate the 10% quota.
There you go. We won't have a quota unless we need one.
Ca. March 13, 1950: The Army agrees to abolish its 10% recruitment quota for African-Americans, effective in April 1950.
Only two years after the "stroke of the pen".
March 27, 1950: President Truman tells Secretary of the Army Gordon Gray that he appreciates the Army's abolishing its 10% quota for African-Americans. "I am sure everything will work out as it should," Truman said.
May 22, 1950: The Fahy Committee submits its final report, "Freedom to Serve," to the President, who says in receiving it that he is confident the committee's recommendations will be carried out and that "within the reasonably near future, equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons within the armed services would be accomplished."
Ca. June 1950 and following: Commanders at Army training facilities find it impossible to predict how many African-American recruits they will receive, with the result that the Army decides unofficially to integrate basic training.
So that's the reason for going ahead. Whatever works, I guess.
Ca. June 1950 and following: Segregation in Army units serving in Korea gradually breaks down as white combat units suffer combat casualties and as large numbers of African-American recruits cannot be absorbed into segregated black service units.
Military necessity finally overrides staff politics.
July 6, 1950: President Truman informs the Fahy Committee that, against the wishes of most of its members, it is being discontinued. "The necessary programs [to integrate the armed forces] having been adopted," Truman wrote the committee, "I feel that the Armed Services should now have an opportunity to work out in detail the procedures which will complete the steps so carefully initiated by the Committee."
President Truman shakes hands with Air Force Staff Sgt. Edward Williams, at a casual meeting in St. Louis during the President's morning walk, October 13, 1950. Acme photograph courtesy Harry S. Truman Library. [not reproduced here]
1951
Ca. January 1951: The Eighth Army in Korea adopts an unofficial policy of integrating African-American soldiers who cannot be effectively absorbed into segregated African-American units.
March 18, 1951: The Department of Defense announces that all basic training within the United States has been integrated.
April 1951: General Matthew B. Ridgway, head of the United Nations Command in Korea, requests that the Army allow him to integrate all African-Americans within his command.
July 26, 1951: The Army announces that the integration of all its units in Korea, Japan and Okinawa will be completed within six months.
1953
October 1953: The Army announces that 95% of African-American soldiers are serving in integrated units.
Congratulations, America, only 5% of Black soldiers were segregated after just five years. Oh, well, better than our schools even today, for sure.
Even more history that the Right will not learn from
It was to the Sephardic Jews of Newport, Rhode Island, that President George Washington wrote his famous letter, more than two centuries ago, stating
The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for giving to Mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection, should demean themselves as good citizens.
The congregation holds an annual ceremony at which Washington's letter is read. But remember, Washington was a slave owner, and the Federal government did in fact lend assistance to persecution of Blacks until the 1960s, and to LGBTs even today. We have some catching up to do, don't we?
Further reading
GAO Report on DOD policy of excluding homosexuals from serving in the armed forces, June 12, 1992.
Lesbians more likely to be kicked out of military
Statistics show women more impacted by ‘don't ask, don't tell’ policy
Tips on how to phase out 'don't ask, don't tell'
The main points, in brief.
• Adopt a policy of nondiscrimination based on sexual orientation.
• Recognize that gay and lesbian service members have partners and children.
• To the extent possible, treat gay and lesbian service members like their straight comrades with respect to pay, benefits and family support services.
• Allow service members discharged under "don't ask, don't tell" to rejoin the armed forces if they are otherwise qualified.
• Adopt streamlined procedures for service members discharged under "don't ask, don't tell" and prior homosexual conduct policies to have their discharge records amended
• Repeal will have no effect on military chaplains.
That last point would be true in an ideal world where chaplains have no problem dealing with members of other churches, even other religions entirely.
Hawkeye Pierce: Father, can you do Presbyterian?
Father Mulcahy: Piece of cake.
M.A.S.H.
There will be pushback here, and even more when military chaplains are called upon to preside at gay weddings. It will take some time to die down.
A Few Statistics on LGBT Issues
Twenty-four countries [not including the U.S.] currently allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military, according to the Service Members Legal Defense Network. Of these twenty-four countries, twenty-two are part of coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan – meaning that openly gay and lesbian soldiers from Allied Forces are serving alongside U.S. troops, despite the continued U.S. ban. In July, more than 50 retired U.S. Generals and Admirals released a statement calling on the U.S. Congress to repeal the ban on openly gay and lesbian soldiers serving in the military, the largest number of military officials calling for a ban to date. To date, the U.S. has discharged over 11,000 service members for being gay or lesbian.
Added later:
Five myths about 'don't ask, don't tell'