Defense Secretary Gates Echoes Obama's Stance on "Changing" DADT

Recently, President Obama was recently asked about Don't Ask Don't Tell, and he kept referring to "changing" the law instead of "repealing" it, the latter a term he used before switching to "change."

Now, Defense Secretary Gates has begun to use it, too.



He does give some examples of more "humane" ways of dealing with DADT.

One example of that might be — what if we did not take into account third parties trying to harm somebody who may be gay in the service. Somebody who may have a vendetta, or hatred toward somebody, and therefore out them as a way to wreck their career. Is there a way we can not focus on those kinds of reports.

What? If authorities are made aware that a soldier is gay or lesbian, the law demands they discharge them. It doesn't matter if they're made aware of the soldier's orientation if it comes from a third party with a vendetta. So is he proposing they just ignore it?

Gates puts the onus back on Congress to get legislation through to repeal, reminding us that DADT is not just a policy, but a law. But he'll break that law if a personal vendetta is involved?

But I would like to remind him that in the interim, Obama has the authrority to put a stop-loss on discharges. And he won't.

Where's the humanity in that?