President Barack Obama on Friday gave final approval to end the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy and allow gays to serve openly in the military. (AP)It is necessary for many of the people in our armed forces to live, operate and sometimes face danger or even death in very close personal contact. It is important for them to have mutual respect, trust and confidence, and it has been a practice to exclude homosexuals from our military forces for practical reasons.
It is unfortunate, therefore, that Congress in December ended that policy and that President Barack Obama has now formally signed a measure to implement the repeal.
It is obviously reasonable to separate the living quarters of males and females in our military forces. And so it is unreasonable to invite possibly serious problems by having individuals who have homosexual inclinations living and operating militarily in close situations with others of the same sex.
Obama declared, "As commander in chief, I have always been confident that our dedicated men and women in uniform would transition to a new policy in an orderly manner that preserves unit cohesion, recruitment, retention and military effectiveness."
But he and Congress have made a serious -- and unnecessary -- mistake in judgment that may create morale and other problems that had been minimized by the previous policy.