President-Elect Obama recently indicated he would work to end the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.  Assuming he doesn't reneg, kudos to him for having the political courage to step up to the plate on an issue that was so inelegantly handled by President Clinton, and detrimental to Clinton's efforts to generate initial momentum for his presidency.

One would hope that in 2009, our men and women in the armed services are ready and able to accept one another's sexual orientation.  It's an insult to all those who serve to believe they are any less capable of doing what is expected of everybody else in the workplace.  I don't buy the unique circumstances argument.  Tolerance is tolerance; plain and simple.  A military culture that prides itself on obedience can certainly be disciplined enough to get beyond archaic prejudices and stereotypes.

Aren't we hypocritical to expect deeply rooted religious and sectarian differences to be settled in the Middle East and elsewhere when our own troops are forced to accept a policy that sanctifies bigotry?  It's time to recapture the moral high ground.