Conversation starter: Pace on gays

This comment was posted by anonymous and I feel it deserves a wider read:

I’m not sure whether I’m gladdened or saddened by the lack of coverage that this has gotten in the daily papers up this way. The media focus is on Gonzales this morning, and that’s great. It’s refreshing to see an administration so unaccustomed to being held accountable by the legislative branch scramble to adjust to what a Democratic Congress really means as far as enforcing fair and ethical government. (Consider the difference between the way seasoned Washingtonian Gates handled his department’s scandal at Walter Reed–firing everyone responsible in the Army from the top down–with Gonzales, who has never served with an opposition Congress and still thinks that if he repeats the words “I’m accountable” often enough during a press conference, no one will think there’s any further reason to try and hold him accountable). But the lack of coverage on Pace’s gaffe presents a diminished opportunity to address an important civil rights and national security issue. While Andy Rooney’s latest commentary piece is on why we should bring back the draft to supply capable, credible force numbers in a war that the vast majority of Americans oppose, now feels like a good time to me to begin a discussion about why our armed forces are rejecting intelligent, physically-capable volunteers who are eager to serve our nation in uniform.

I agree: let’s talk about why our all-volunteer military, stretched thin by our involvement in Iraq, should reduce its ranks further by rejecting gays. I can’t think of any reason to do so. Can you?