by Chris Bodenner
Yesterday, for the first time in 15 years, Congress held a hearing on "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell." Time revisits the debate:
Recently, conservatives have made the argument that if Americans like Stephen were allowed to serve openly, young heterosexuals from conservative families would stop enlisting. … But the Zogby poll has an answer to this: only 2% of respondents said they would not have joined the military if gays were allowed to serve openly. That translates to a loss of about 4,000 service members per year — the same number of gays and lesbians who decline to re-enlist because of "Don’t ask, don’t tell" or who are discharged under the policy. That calculation means keeping or repealing "Don’t ask, don’t tell" would be a wash in terms of numbers. It forces a question we have postponed for 15 years: Do we want a military where Americans are not forced to lie about their most important emotional bonds?
The Dish 