[andy58-in-nh]

I really wouldn't characterize it as a mental illness, but it certainly is abnormal behavior. It's funny (I guess) how even that idea is now somehow "controversial". File it under: "What the hell happened to the America I used to know?" That file is getting pretty thick these days.

Anyway, I know for a fact that gay people have served honorably and with distinction in the service of our country, and I'm sure you do, too. More than a few of their names are carved on monuments throughout the country. But draftees were pre-screened, as were volunteers. Some managed to hide their preference. But if that soldier's C.O. ever suspected or found out, there used to be a vital understanding involved: shut up, keep it zipped and do your g**d*** job. Create any threat to this unit and you are gone (and "gone" could mean a stint in Leavenworth).

My fear is that now such necessary, life-saving discipline will be considered a "hate crime" in our brave new world.

[trisham]

I regret to say that we fundamentally disagree.

Imho, homosexuals are mentally ill.

They are not "gay".

I do not know "for a fact" "that gay people have served honorably and with distinction in the service of our country".

I believe that this repeal is wrong and may well mean the beginning of the end for our country as we and our forefathers have known it.

[southernsunshine]

My fear is that now such necessary, life-saving discipline will be considered a "hate crime" in our brave new world.

You can take this one out of the "fear" column and put it in the "fact" column.