About Time

Get ready for the conservative backlash. Obama is going to do away with Don't Ask Don't Tell.

President-elect Barack Obama will allow gays to serve openly in the military by overturning the controversial "don't ask, don't tell" policy that marred President Clinton's first days in office, according to incoming White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

Whether the homophobes will admit it or not, gays have been serving in our military with honor for as long as we've had a military. Certainly thousands are now on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq. One of the stupid and dangerous consequences of Don't Ask Don't Tell has been the dismissal of dozens of gay translators who spoke Arabic, right at the time when they were most needed.

If you work in a company with more than a dozen people, the odds are that someone you work with is gay. They go to your church, they work in your children's schools. They are not poisonous and won't taint you by their presence. They won't undermine morale in our military. They don't have a problem, those who hate them do.

If you don't like gays, get over it. They deserve the right to serve without having to hide who they are.