Secretary of Defense Gates says the military has to consider segregated barracks for gay soldiers!

[Better Believe It]

Editorial

Don’t Stay the ‘Don’t Ask’ Ruling
October 16, 2010

The Obama administration has conjured up some inflated fears to justify its decision to appeal an injunction that brought a screeching halt to investigations and discharges of gay men and women serving in the military.

Clifford Stanley, the under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said in a court filing that ending the antigay policy would require training, and reworking regulations on issues like housing, benefits and standards of conduct. He said the Army had to consider the “rights and obligations of the chaplain corps.” Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said the military had to consider whether barracks should be segregated and whether partners of gay soldiers should have benefits.

This sounds disturbingly like the creation of a “separate but equal” system. The armed forces do not need to be protected from their gay and lesbian personnel. The military has always had its own culture and rules of behavior, but it has not been living in a cave.

Judge Phillips has hit on a simpler, more equitable solution: just stop enforcing “don’t ask, don’t tell.” It has done more to harm military readiness than her injunction possibly could.

Read the full editorial at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/opinion/17sun3.html?_r=5