“Discrimination of any kind has no place in America’s armed forces,” Carter said at a Pentagon ceremony celebrating June as “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Month.” His action adds sexual orientation to race, creed, color, national origin and gender as a protected characteristic that cannot be considered in hiring, firing and promotions. But under the newly expanded equal-opportunity policy, any commander who orders such a hunt will be investigated, instead.
In fact, superiors often launched what were called “witch hunts” to find gay troops and boot them out of the service. Talk about change: less than a generation ago, troops were investigated if commanders suspected they were gay.
