Frontlines: The Latest from OutServe-SLDN

“Forty years and more after the great struggles of the civil rights movement,” Senator McCain said, “we marvel that such fierce passions could be aroused in defense of such petty cruelties.” Forty years from now will we wonder that such fierce passions could be aroused at the prospect of admitting openly gay and lesbian soldiers into the military? I am an optimist: I think so.

We know, of course, that gays and lesbians are already there, they just can’t mention it, and if they do, under the current law they’re out. That is what Senator McCain correctly calls “the underside of life in America, where the rules of respect, and fairness, and courtesy were thought not to apply.” But that is what Senator McCain supports.

“Sometimes the most radical thing is to be confronted with our own standards,” Senator McCain said, “to be asked simply that we live up to the principles we profess.” That is precisely what we are asking, no more, no less: that this President, this Congress, Republicans as well as Democrats, this nation live up to the principles of equality and justice that Senator McCain so eloquently proclaims—and that Senator McCain live up to them, too, and support the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, instead of opposing it as he now does.

Senator McCain noted that “we do not always take kindly to being reminded of what more we can do, or how much better we can be, or who else can be included in the promise of America.” So let us respectfully remind him, him and every other candidate for the Presidency, for the Congress, and for every public office in this land—and push this land a little closer to the principles of liberty and justice for all that it espouses.

-Aubrey Sarvis