Um, thanks?

We've already written a few posts about Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT), but this latest development in the saga deserves some attention.

This CNN headline "Defense chief giving 'don't ask, don't tell' a closer look" makes it seem that perhaps, just perhaps, top Pentagon officials are finally starting to acknowledge how ridiculous this policy is. So, good news for gays?

Not really.

What Defense chief Robert Gates wants to do is make the policy more "humane" ... now, how does one make pure and simple discrimination more "humane?"

He is proposing that if a member of the military is outed due to "vengeance" or a "jilted lover" then the policy can be flexible. Here's the thing that drives Alex and me crazy: if the policy was enacted to protect those poor, innocent heterosexual soldiers from the discomfort of serving with us horrid gays, then why does it matter how the person was outed? They're still gay. The other soldiers still know it.

How about this for something more humane: drop the policy.

I still feel hope that the very fact that top officials are now talking about the policy will eventually lead to it's total repeal. Perhaps even during the Obama administration. As Alex posted the other day, Obama has already reinstated his plan to overturn it, after massive criticism from the gay community.

We'll see.