So Did Openly Gay Gays Bring Down the Military or What?

NOPE, reports the New York Times. But their check-in one year after the repeal of DADT reveals it’s still kind of a shitty place to work if you’re gay (and maybe also if you’re not gay, but that’s not covered).

WHAT TWO RETIRED GAY PEOPLE IN THE MILITARY SAY
• “Even with repeal, there’s still that trepidation of being out in the military.” (Retired Air Force lieutenant colonel Sean M. Hackbarth)

• “For years we’ve been fringe. Finally I’ve met other people in the military who are gay.” (Retired Air Force master sergeant Bert Gillott)

WHAT THE BOSSES SAY
• “My view is that the military has kind of moved beyond it.” (Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta)
• “I’m very pleased with how this turned out.” (Marine commandant James F. Amos)

WHAT A NOTED HATER (SIMPLY DESCRIBED AS “A LONGTIME OPPONENT OF REPEAL”) SAYS
• “People in the military follow orders. Silence should not be interpreted as a sign of approval or success.” (Elaine Donnelly, who is the head for the “Center for Military Readiness,” which she invented and runs out of her living room.)

WHAT AN ACADEMIC SAYS
• “You have a masculine organization which is largely conservative and it takes time to turn that ship around.” ( Aaron Belkin, the director of the Palm Center, a branch of the Williams Institute at the U.C.L.A. School of Law)

So I think the takeaway is that yes you can be openly gay and not bring down the largest military in the world, and also when you create a culture that institutionalizes the dehumanization of a group of of people, it takes more than the repeal of a terrible rule to get over it.

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