The Missing Element in the DADT: That Gays Are Human Too

Opponents of LGBT equality go to great lengths to dehumanize LGBT individuals - it's a tactic long used by the Christian Right that bears a striking resemblance to the game plan used by NAZI propagandists against the Jews. Naturally, it's easier to justify mistreatment of those who are some how "other" or less than fully human. In the debate over whether or not DADT should be repealed, there's be huge focus on the sensibility of bigots and chaplains (a position that perhaps ought to be dropped from the military ranks completely, in my opinion even though my "father in law is a former Army chaplain), but almost no commentary on the lives and emotional/psychological costs DADT inflicts on LGBT service members. Are the opponents of repeal just grand standing to the toxic Republican Party base or does their opposition suggest something far more disturbing: they don't see gays as human beings. The Plum Line in the Washington Post looks briefly at this phenomenon and here are some highlights:
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One thing that's been oddly missing from the debate in the Senate over repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell is any discussion of the moral and human dimensions of this story, at least as it concerns the gay service-members themselves. The discussion has mostly focused on how straight troops will be impacted.
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Indeed, when Senator James Webb today asked the Service Chiefs a simple question about the gay human beings impacted by this discriminatory policy, everyone at the hearing acted a bit startled. Webb asked: What should we do with gay patriotic Americans who have already served our country for years, and want to lead free and open lives? Everyone looked uncomfortable, as if Webb had gone way off topic.
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Matthew Yglesias today wonders what on earth opponents of DADT repeal are thinking. As he says, at bottom this debate is really about whether we are going to treat gays as "free and equal citizens of the country," or whether they're "some kind of subordinate class."
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So here's my question: Is it possible that one of the things holding up repeal is that many people simply haven't had an up-close view of the ugliness of anti-gay bigotry, and aren't willing to believe the push for equality for gays is on a moral par with other major civil rights battles?
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[I]t seems to me that the broader discussion has been largely antiseptic and lacking in moral urgency and historical depth. I wonder whether it's because people have mostly been insulated from the ugliness of anti-gay bigotry. I'd be very interested to hear from others on this.