DADT repeal opponents owe gay troops, veterans an apology

Listening to those who were previously opposed to repealing the U.S. military's now-dead "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) policy, one would think that the end of the world was imminent. Talk abounded of troops being "distracted" and losing limbs in Afghanistan, of morale and combat readiness plummeting, and of careerists leaving the armed forces in droves should that policy change make it through Congress or be imposed on the military by the courts.

In the end, both of those outcomes obtained. The federal court case on which I was proud to have served as the sole named veteran plaintiff on behalf of the Log Cabin Republicans got the DADT law declared unconstitutional, and a subsequent injunction barred enforcement of that law for a short period of time during the height of the debate over the law's repeal. Here in Washington, we issue advocates worked closely with congressional leaders to build support for and usher though repeal legislation that was finally signed by the president in December of 2010. Although the administration originally had a very different timeline in mind, they eventually came around and in a rare political “hail Mary pass in overtime” the DADT repeal bill was passed.

After seven more months of implementation preparation and training by the Defense Department and an additional sixty-day "congressional review period" negotiated into the legislation by the late Senator Byrd (D-W.Va.), the DADT law finally became history. Virtually nothing changed for the Defense Department overall, nor did anything change for the overwhelming majority of troops who are heterosexual. But something major changed for a small percentage of those serving in uniform - those who are gay and lesbian. They were finally able to go to work one year ago today without a cloud of fear hanging over their heads that they could be abruptly fired from their jobs if the wrong person happened to find out their secret. And finally, the hundreds of thousands of gay and lesbian veterans who had served under the cloud of DADT and its predecessor policies could feel some small amount of vindication.

SNIP