Source: New York Times
Author(s): Nathaniel Frank
Date: April 7, 2007

To the Editor:

Robert Wright calls the military a "bastion of egalitarianism" and hopes that America will learn from the Army's commitment to equality in schools, health care and professional mobility.

But he remains silent on a key policy that undermines respect for the military: its exclusion of known gays and lesbians. As Mr. Wright argues, much of today's military is indeed conscientious, professional and respectful of diversity. This increasingly includes tolerance of gays and lesbians. It is the political and military leaders who claim that soldiers are too bigoted to serve with their gay comrades who are responsible for staining the honor and dignity of a military that deserves better.

Nathaniel Frank
Philadelphia, April 3, 2007
The writer is a senior research fellow at the Michael D. Palm Center,
University of California at Santa Barbara