DADT: Mass Confusion In The Ranks

Jillian Bandes | October 21, 2010 9:44 AM

Let's get this straight: a judge told the military that "don't ask, don't tell" is out the window. A federal appeals court has just reversed that order -- so "don't ask, don't tell" is still the law of the land. During all of this, the Pentagon is openly accepting gay soldiers for duty -- for now. If the appeals court gets struck down, gay soldiers would be out of luck again. The ruling will probably go to a higher court before that happens, though.

Meanwhile, President Obama has vowed that the policy "will end on my watch," but he also doesn't want to end it without an act of Congress. The Pentagon wants to keep the law until further study. The length of time they will get is uncertain.

A lawyer for the Log Cabin Republicans said the group was disappointed, but called it a minor setback. The group, which brought its lawsuit in 2004, argues that forcing gays in uniform to remain silent about their personal lives violates their First Amendment rights and that the military's reluctance to end the policy was based on unfounded fears, not facts.

...Government lawyers argue that striking down the policy and ordering the Pentagon to immediately allow openly gay service members could harm troop morale and unit cohesion when the military is fighting two wars.

If there was ever a reason to let the military decide how to implement major policy changes, this was it.