When people talk about openly gay people serving in the military having a negative effect on ‘good order’, I always tend to look back at Executive Order 9981 which, in 1948, forced the beginning of racial integration in the armed services. I think it’s clear from history that integration resulted in many instances of ‘poor order’, but no one suggests that it wasn’t worth it in the end. I don’t really agree that gays in the military cause much in the way of ‘poor order’, but my point is: so what if they do? It won’t last. In the fifties, the military blazed the trail of racial integration. Why would they now want to be last to get with the program on tolerance of gays?
