Now that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" has been repealed for nearly five years and gay men (and lesbians) can serve openly in the military, I'd be interested in hearing from people who actually are in the military or who have been there. I never was myself.

Back when repeal was being debated in Congress I thought some of the arguments against repeal by Senators, Congress members and military brass were totally ridiculous. Unit morale, military readiness and what have you. Consider this: The military takes young men at the peak of their sexual potency and puts them in an all male environment with little or no contact with women. It's incredibly naпve to think that sex between enlisted men doesn't happen. Of course it does. Always has, always will.

Yes, there are some men who are so totally and absolutely heterosexual that contact with another man is out of the question under any circumstances. But there are not very many. Most men are more heteroflexible. Sure, their preferred orifice might be a vagina, but if none is available they're willing to make do with a cocksucker's mouth.

Furthermore, within the last decade there has been a huge change in attitude and awareness about gay people. It used to be that homosexuality was the love that dare not speak its name. Now, it practically never shuts up. Most people have gay friends. There are open and out gay people in all areas of society. Entertainment [duh, of course, but now we're out], business and commerce, the government, even that last bastion of heterosexuality professional sports. We're not the scary boogie men we once were.

So all you soldiers, sailors and airmen, what do you have to say?