A day after a federal judge in California ordered the Pentagon to cease enforcing the law, Gates told reporters traveling with him in Europe that repeal should be a question for Congress — and only after the Pentagon completes a study of the impact of lifting the ban, which is due Dec. 1.
Allowing gays to serve openly "is an action that requires careful preparation and a lot of training," Gates said. "It has enormous consequences for our troops."
For goodness sake, do we really think that the military will collapse if gay members of the military are allowed to represent themselves for who they are? And, if the worry is that there will be some kind of retaliation against open gays in the military perpetrated by our own troops, then in those cases, the offending personnel should be prosecuted, just as they would in a civil or criminal court. After all, it's equal rights under the law for all.