And we renounce it. It is now time for the leaders of our nation to remember this hard-won lesson, and to accept the truth that Don't Ask, Don't Tell is nothing more than another variation on the theme of invidious discrimination. Our leaders should accept the reality that the policy is wrong and out of sync with the civil rights movement of the late 20th Century. They should also accept that the constitutionality of the policy is highly suspect. Don't Ask, Don't Tell even a semblance of constitutional legitimacy, is destined for an early burial in that national cemetery of shame.
Bowers is only a decade old.
But the writing is already on the wall. One of the retired members of the majority, Justice Lewis Powell, has repented publicly, calling his decisive Bowers vote the worst mistake of his tenure on the Supreme Court. Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and for that policy itself. We are witnessing a fundamental shift in the way Americans think about gay men and lesbians and the roles they play in our lives. In coming out, they have helped clear the air of irrational fear by putting the lie to baseless stereotyping.