Don't Ask-The military cruises a gay Internet site for employees, albeit briefly.

This Washington Post editorial sums up the idiocy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," particularly at a time when the military is desperate to attract qualified people (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/25/AR2007102502287.html). I personally know of a number of former military personnel who either "outed" themselves because they could no longer take living a double life or who were thrown out of the military for being gay based on anonymous allegations. The policy is stupid and continues to exist solely because of the dangerous influence of Christianists within the ranks of senior military leaders and the regime of Chimperator Bush. It does nothing positive for the country and only serves the Christianist agenda of keeping gays less than full citizens:

THE U.S. MILITARY has positions to fill. Thousands of them. And, like any enterprise seeking employees, it casts a wide net to find qualified people -- as long as they're not gay. So it was the height of irony that military want ads were placed on a gay professional networking Web site last week. In fact, the placement would have made perfect sense were it not for the wrongheaded "don't ask, don't tell" policy that bans gay people from serving openly in the military.

Since 1993, more than 11,000 people have been discharged from the services because of their homosexuality. Of those, 800 were in positions deemed "mission-critical" by the Pentagon. Those would be combat engineers, medical professionals and linguists (58 of whom spoke Arabic) -- the very people the Army, Navy and Air Force were looking for when their job postings showed up on GLEE.com, which stands for Gay, Lesbian, & Everyone Else.

Mind you, the military didn't go to GLEE.com directly. The ad placements involved a mix-up with the military's private ad agency. And the listings were removed once the Pentagon was informed. The whole sorry episode highlights the absurdity of the ban on openly gay people in the military. Israel, Australia, Britain and 21 other countries have no problem with gays and lesbians serving openly in their armed forces. With its military stretched to the breaking point, the United States should follow their wise lead. That it doesn't is as shortsighted as it is unjust.