Although I feel that the US government is bullying those gay and lesbian men and women who are serving in the armed services and deployed to take risks for the national security interests of the United States under the restrictions of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, this is a compelling and powerful message from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the wake of several suicides by promising young gay people.
Her message refers to foreign service officers and civil servants in the Department of State who couldn’t until recently serve openly. She’s right — and progress has been made.
And in my view she’s giving a powerful nudge for this government to do all that it takes to finally end the legally fortified bigotry of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell at the Department of Defense.
There’s a rumor afloat that Hillary could very well be the next Secretary of Defense (see future blog post on that in the next day or two) — and if that happens, one can’t help but imagine the different posture she’d take on this issue from that of Robert Gates and some of the military command staff.
— Steve Clemons
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