Look out: a gay rant

The day's music choices reflect a news story I will be following: yesterday, a House subcommittee revisited for the first time since its enactment 15 years ago the "don't ask, don't tell" policy toward gays in the military, signed into law by that great friend of gay people, Bill Clinton. (If you're interested, Diane Rehm will be devoting her first hour this morning to a discussion of the issue.) If any changes are in the offing, they of course won't come until after a new administration is in place, but it's heartening to know that a re-examination is starting now, as ugly and personally insulting as I know I will find the conversation. Just as when I pass a serious car wreck on the highway, I find myself morbidly drawn to this discussion, simultaneously relishing and hating hearing myself referred to in the third person, as if I were not in the room.

I hope whoever advised Clinton to make this issue the very first one to tackle after he was sworn into office was drawn and quartered, or at least summarily fired. The "born politician" overplayed his hand disastrously on this question, and he ended up codifying into law the lying that, up to then, gay people in the military had only occasionally been forced into, by individual circumtances. At the time, it was viewed as a humane compromise, but that view was held, of course, by people who weren't forced into hypocrisy by it. The inevitable witch hunts ensued: under this law, more than 12,000 patriots have been drummed out of the service for loving whom they loved. That number includes field medics and scarce Arabic speakers. The policy is a national disgrace. (Funny. As I wrote that I realized we've experienced so many national disgraces since this one that the expression has lost much of its punch. But this still outrages me, which I guess means there's hope yet for our dear country.)

Me, I'd never have touched a military career. I wasn't made for one, and am grateful that another means of expressing my patriotism was available. But I am also grateful to anyone willing to put his or her life in danger in order to protect mine. And isn't that what it all boils down to? These people have volunteered to give their all, literally, to this country, and this is the gratitude they receive. If they kiss the wrong kind of person they aren't worthy.

Have I made myself clear how I feel about this? Carry on, dear friends.