"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Stays For Now

From the Washington Post:

The Supreme Court on Monday turned down a challenge to the Pentagon policy forbidding gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military, granting an Obama administration request to maintain the Clinton-era "don't ask, don't tell" directive.

The court said it will not hear an appeal from former Army Capt. James Pietrangelo II, who was dismissed under the military's policy.

The federal appeals court in Boston earlier threw out a lawsuit filed by Pietrangelo and 11 other veterans. He was the only member of that group who asked the high court to rule that the policy is unconstitutional.

I'm a far cry from a legal expert, but I don't see the change in "don't ask, don't tell" coming from court intervention. The president and the Congress must do the job. To me, the saddest part of this article is found in the words below.

During last year's campaign, President Barack Obama indicated he supported the eventual repeal of the policy, but he has made no specific move to do so since taking office in January. Meanwhile, the White House has said it won't stop gays and lesbians from being dismissed from the military.

Perhaps as we hear more outrageous stories of members of the military, who have served long and honorably, being unfairly dismissed for no other reason than being gay or lesbian, the president and the Congress will wake from their slumbers on this issue. The populace is way ahead of them.

US News reports:

One other item worth noting from the new Gallup poll on Americans' views regarding gays: A huge majority of Americans—69 percent—now support gays being able to serve in the U.S. military.