The battle over both Don't Ask, Don't Tell feels both increasingly anachronistic and vicious, the last gasps of a dangerous, but dying enemy. There is little support for DADT left out there, yet segments of the body politic will continue to fight to the bitter end to prevent repeal. Why is this so?
It seems to me that it comes down to the fact that stigmatization of homosexuality is rapidly receding in this society, particularly when one excludes the attitudes of senior citizens. The inability of gays to serve in the military and to marry represent two of the last meaningful barriers to full societal acceptance. When these barriers fall -- and fall they will -- there will be virtually no remaining mainstream social/cultural/political obstacles to gay acceptance.
And this is terrifying to the evangelical set. It will be an irreversible loss in the culture wars, one which will graphically illustrate the likely long term marginalization of a once potent force.
It can't happen soon enough. (h/t oddjob.)
