Virginian Pilot: Good Riddance to Ban on Gays

As Bob Marshall fulminates over gays soon being able to serve in the military without fear of discharge haunting them 24/7, the Virginian Pilot - which refused to publish information on GOP Scott Rigell's endorsement by and anti-gay hate group prior to the recent election - has even come out and lauded the demise of DADT. While in my view anything by allies to LGBT Virginians, even the folks at the Virginian Pilot can do the math and realize that with 77% of the population nationally supporting repeal, they had best get on board. The editorial page writers may also be belatedly waking up to the fact that the region needs to become more progressive and socially tolerant after being after slammed and being described as "Old, Slow and Not Too Bright" in a Brookings Institute study. Here are highlights from the Pilot editorial page:
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Good riddance to ban on gays. The inevitable arrived early. Despite overwhelming evidence that the military's controversial "don't ask, don't tell" policy was doomed one way or another, it didn't appear Congress would ever muster the courage to end it - until Saturday.
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On a 65-31 vote, the Senate finally approved legislation to allow gays to serve openly in the armed forces. Among those voting for the measure were Democrats Mark Warner and Jim Webb of Virginia and Republican Richard Burr and Democrat Kay Hagan of North Carolina. The vote was somewhat surprising, given the hyper-partisanship on Capitol Hill these days - not to mention the chronic hand-wringing and waffling over this issue.
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[A]generational shift in attitudes toward homosexuality - in the armed forces and the general population - ensured that such a discriminatory policy would not last. Recent court rulings also indicated the ban would not withstand continued legal challenges.
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There's no need to continue denying the reality that gay Americans can serve - and always have served - honorably in the military. More than 13,500 members of the armed forces have been driven out since the "don't ask, don't tell" policy went into effect in 1993. Countless others have lived in fear of reprisal, opted not to re-enlist or decided not to join because they didn't wish to live a lie.
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The military will adapt to this change, just as it did to racial integration and to allowing women to serve. In both those cases, critics predicted the sky would fall. It didn't. It won't this time, either.