[Titan]

So... the lives, futures, and livelihoods of thousands and thousands of service members were being used as pawns?

[Bobboau]

welcome to politics.

[Dilmah G]

So... the lives, futures, and livelihoods of thousands and thousands of service members were being used as pawns?

Well it's not as if DADT reflected any kind of due respect given to those service members.

Am I the only one who's at a loss to explain why on Earth the US Military didn't use DADT with women and coloured people too?

[General Battuta]

w...what...I mean, yes, I think you're pretty much the only one on Earth, since you don't have to ask a woman or person of color if she's a woman or a person of color, and they certainly can't opt to not tell you if they're standing right there. Hard to use DADT when it's impossible to not ask and impossible to not tell.

Or am I misunderstanding something profoundly here?

[Dilmah G]

I believe you made the error of assuming I was making some sort of point, rather than poking fun at the very notion of DADT.

[General Battuta]

But the distinction between the two types of traits is exactly what enabled DADT, and what drives a lot of the dynamics that differentiate attitudes towards homosexuals from attitudes on race and classical sex. The (partial) invisibility of homosexuality, the dynamic of secrecy, is one of the main reasons it's been so difficult to make progress on the issue.

[Dilmah G]

Oh sure, I agree with that. I maintain, I was taking the piss and nothing more.

[General Battuta]

So the best burn I heard on this topic was one of those 'overheard at...' things:

"Now that they're letting gay men into the army, I think it's about time they start letting straight men into the navy."

[BloodEagle]

w...what...I mean, yes, I think you're pretty much the only one on Earth, since you don't have to ask a woman or person of color if she's a woman or a person of color, and they certainly can't opt to not tell you if they're standing right there. Hard to use DADT when it's impossible to not ask and impossible to not tell.

Or am I misunderstanding something profoundly here?

*Cough* Mulan *cough* 

[Mongoose]

"Now that they're letting gay men into the army, I think it's about time they start letting straight men into the navy."

IN THE NAAAAAAAVYYYYYYY!