Were there mass migrations out of the military when they integrated blacks and women? I’m sure the same thing was predicted.
I’m curious if there might be an uptick in enlistments, especially by gays. The DoD probably won’t track that.
The Constitution doesn’t give Congress any power over marriage or family law (except in federal territories & the District of Columbia); that matter is reserved to the states. Other than DOMA the only other time the federal government tried to define what constitutes a marriage was in the 19th century, when it outlawed polygam, that that was only in the federal territories. Ironically in the only place in the mainland US where Congress does have the power to ban same-sex marriage, the District of Columbia, it’s perfectly lega.
Yes, you’re right. It’s just that the effects of gays being able to serve openly in the military has nothing to do with same-sex marriage rights. The complaint is off-topic.
No, you can put a submarine inside the Glomar Explorer. And probably some other ships. 
We even had a discussion here on the board, 6 years ago, when the first 2 gay Canadian Mounties got married (in uniform & everything).
Weren’t the first two gay Mounties also the first two Mounties? The way they’re shown in movies and TV I thought they were ALL gay. 
I’m not clear. What are the members of a US Army tank unit going to do to someone minding their own business and walking alone at night?
Well, tankers will steal your twinkies.
The Constitution doesn’t explicitly give Congress lots of powers it exercises, and Congress already legislates in many areas related to family law, such as child support enforcement. The fact that it hasn’t done something before doesn’t necessarily mean that it can’t do it at all.
That is not to say that I think DOMA is otherwise constitutional.
Probably never. They are being beaten to the punch by civilians, who are already on track for taking it to the SCOTUS via the lawsuit in CA.
I’ve mentioned before that I often encounter retired military officers; they are friends of my sister whose husband was a military officer. I have been told that prior to DADT there were NO gay people in the military. As in NONE. When i told these people that they had, in all probability served with gay people without being aware of their orientation I was told that I didn’t know what I was talking about. It is a good thing, I think, that these people are retired.
Perhaps the repeal of DADT has spontaneously created thousands of gays in the military that weren’t there before.
Feel free to share this thread with them: For a moment, just a moment, DADT didn't matter - Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share - Straight Dope Message Board
Well, according to Iranian President Ahmadinejad, there are no gay people in Iran either. I’m sure these retired officers love being in such august company. :smack:
It’s basically a case of bad neighborhood vs. good neighborhood. Getting mugged, raped, assaulted etc. is more likely near some living areas on base than others. Not always, not everywhere, and things are constantly getting better.
Yeah, my suspicion is that the type of people responsible for this:
are not exactly the world’s most tolerant, and may engage in retributory rape of open lesbians on top of their general predation upon women.
I get the same feeling - the social reactionaries are presently dazzled by the Republican primaries, but later, when some congress dude needs headlines . . .
I thought the whole point of this change was that sailors wouldn’t have to deal with the expense of beards anymore.
I can only speak for my tiny slice of the Army, but in my experience it’s been a total non-issue. Pretty much all it meant was everyone had to sit through an extra briefing or two, and, well, that was about it.
On the downside that means that the quiet homophobia (ie, casually referring to people as fags, “that’s so gay”, etc) that runs absolutely rampant within the military also hasn’t changed. It’s still not a very good place to be anything other than a straight man.
Well, when we were briefed on the repeal it was made clear that “I disagree with the repeal of DADT” is not a reason that’ll convince the Army to release you before your contract is up. You sign up for a certain number of years and need a very compelling reason to be separated before then. So Private Snuffy can dislike it all he wants, but he’s not going anywhere until his contract’s up.