Originally Posted by PornMD

Actually, you bringing up this point allows me to post what I was going to. situations like this are somewhat parallel to the path in the US from slavery to (relatively) equal treatment of black people. How long did this take? Over 100 years. Did it go from slavery to "hey, you're all equal and a normal part of society" all of a sudden? Fuck no it didn't...slavery was abolished and immediately followed by segregation. Is segregation horrible by today's standards? Of course. Was it a necessary step on the path from slavery to equal treatment given the social climate of the times? Yes.

Same with DADT. The people that have always opposed DADT are either people that never wanted gays in the military in the first place, or people that want gays in the military but are too naive to believe that society and more importantly the military society was ready for it. They weren't, and arguably in a country where gay marriage is still a hot button issue and the controversy surrounding sexual orientations of public figures (when in an equal treatment setting it wouldn't matter) leads me to believe that given the military is always a step behind the progressive side of this country as evidenced by that policy you pointed out considering homosexual activity essentially a crime within the military, they may still not be ready for the step beyond DADT.