DON'T ASK DON'T TELL: gays in the military. A thoughtful post on a number of serious issues that will confront the military if gays are to openly serve.

Gays can already serve in the U.S. military; repealing DADT [Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell] isn’t about allowing them to. It’s about endorsing their sexual orientation in military operations and culture. The course of hands-off neutrality is not an option in these realms; their unique character is to require affirmative policy. Civilians should start by understanding this. The quiescent tolerance they think of in relation to their own lives must translate, in the military, into endorsement and administration of an explicit position. These matters are hard for most people to discuss without emotion, and the tendency of both sides is to focus on what offends them. But it’s essential to understand that no form of offense felt by either side makes the administrative consequences of repealing DADT go away. They are inevitable.

Linked from here.