That’s the reason I was against repealing DADT. You’re probably right that if you get the moral stuff right, the rest will follow. How do you go about doing that in a political sense? I know what policies we need and don’t need from an economic standpoint, but to improve the moral situation hearts and minds have to be changed more than laws.
“but to improve the moral situation hearts and minds have to be changed more than laws.”
It is true that no one can be “made moral” by changing a law. Moralty, like faith, has to come from within. You cannot force anyone to believe anything. Ultimately, the real solution is to change hearts and minds as you rightly suggest.
However, you can most certainly change “behavior” by law; most people will refrain from an illegal act out of fear of punishment. Also, once something is illegal (or the reverse legal) it does have an effect on how the average person perceives it. Keep homosexuality out of the military as unacceptable, and the disdain for it will mostly remain...although the media is working overtime to change the public perception that perversion is OK. If you make it legal, it will eventually cause even those with strong moral upbringing to be accepting of it.....issue after issue in time has shown this.
I remember the days before Roe v Wade, and how doctors that did abortions were considered slime. By two decades after that, most didn’t see them as that way anymore...the acceptance of “law” brings a perception that something is OK.