Personally, my view is that the onus should be on the people proposing the change in the policy to show how letting in open homosexuals will make the military more effective (or, at the very least, show how the change will be neutral in this regard). If they can do so, then I don’t think there is any valid reason to disallow open gays from the military.
As it currently stands, homosexuals can serve in the military so long as they maintain discretion. From what I’ve heard from friends in the military, unless a gay soldier goes out of their way to show their commander they are gay, most commanders will ignore this rule if following it means kicking out a good soldier.
Hmm, but how do you truly demonstrate that it’s more effective for America without doing it? Other countries’ militaries, for the most part, have not had a huge problem with open homosexuals, so perhaps one could argue based on that, but then the reply will be that America is not like those other countries, so it’s irrelevant.
I admit that I have a personal interest in this, but still, I’d like to think that even if I didn’t I would look at the evidence and still feel the same way. There will always be those gays who fantasize about military guys due to the macho aspect of it, but they’re not the ones who will be signing up to die for this great country. And anyone who thinks all gays are sissies is truly mistaken.