“For many countries, the United Kingdom and Canada among them, eliminating discrimination in the military came from a hard fought court battle. One day, the issue was being argued in the European Court of Human Rights (for the U.K.), the next it was illegal. Overnight, the military had to change its policies, its practices and military personnel could, quite quickly, choose to out themselves as gay without facing retribution. This worked, not because Brits and Canadians were somehow (over a decade ago for both countries) more ready for the change than Americans, that they were more open to gay rights or more intrinsically able to accept difference in others. It worked because it had to. That’s the way the court system operates most of the time: we don’t give you time to get comfortable with the fact that you are breaking the law and have to change your actions. But the U.S. is approaching things differently. They are asking for more time. The problem is, I can’t, for the life of me, figure out what exactly they need a year to do.” (02/03/10)