Be All You Can Be ... But Not Openly Gay

By law, military recruiters have as much right to be on college campuses as recruiters representing IBM, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Exxon or any other prospective employer who wants to compete for the best and the brightest seniors in the nation.
And, by law, professors and students can denounce the presence of military recruiters on campus with organized protests or demonstrations.
So far, so good.
But can colleges and universities ban the recruiters from campus because military policy discriminates against gays?
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said no.
In its ruling, the nation's highest court upheld the Solomon Act, which requires colleges and universities to give military recruiters the same access they give to other job recruiters, or risk losing federal funding.
We have used this space in the past to state our objections to the military's discriminatory "don't ask, don't tell" rule on men and women who serve in the armed forces, so our sympathy is with the law schools and law professors who challenged the law.
More than 10,000 members of the armed forces have been discharged for failing to hide their homosexuality since the "don't ask, don't tell" policy was adopted in 1994. The military has such a shortage of personnel that it is extending the tours of duty of soldiers who have served their nation well and deserve to come home, yet it is discharging patriotic Americans who have been trained at great expense to the American taxpayer. The military is shooting itself in the foot, robbing itself of needed personnel with a policy of closeted discrimination. The Pentagon tells gay soldiers to stay in the closet, or be expelled. For a nation that is fighting two wars in the name of democracy, that is indefensible.
The federal government has a right to attach conditions to its money. Women athletes in colleges and universities are treated equally because the federal government said, "If you want our money, you will give equal treatment to women in your athletic programs."
The law schools and law professors who challenged the Solomon Act have an argument, but it's not with the Solomon Act.
It's with Congress.
It's up to Congress, not the Pentagon, to change the discriminatory policy on gays in the military.
Only then can the Army be all it can be.
from The Republican