Don't Ask Don't Tell

http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2010/12/20/opinion/20mon1.html
Many years ago, being gay would have been a 'health risk' if it became to a ship board crew.  Also, back then, the stigma of homosexuality made having a classified material clearance a real problem because if anyone found out, it could be used to 'work' the gay military member for what they knew.  That wasn't a reality created by the military, it was a reality, and possibly exacerbated by the likes of this man (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Edgar_Hoover), who made life miserable for political opponents and/or any competitors with secrets, showing the way for others to do the same. 
In the late 90s, although not particularly libertarian then, I realized one day the military would end the ban on gay service.  Why?  Because as being gay becomes a non-secret, the folks who join the service would have openly gay classmates and family members, and they would be ready to serve with gay servicemembers.  Hopefully that time has now arrived. 
That said, the lying by the gay activists always turns my stomach.  The vast, vast majority of service persons who were "kicked out" were kicked out because they walked into the office of someone in authority and said "I want out."  This happens in an environment in which (in my case) Sailors were often looking for a way out of their obligated service.  Some got pregnant.  Some smoked pot.  Some just ran off.  There are a number of ways to get oneself kicked out of the military.  For these last many years, one way is to say "I'm gay." 
Since the topic of gay service has of course been used in the political arena to make points for or against one constituency or another, by politicians and advocates who specialize in the political art of using partial truth to distort issues and arouse emotions, I find myself hoping this can be settled and done with and no longer used as a political football.  I still resent the lying, such as in the article above, which so rarely is contested: "More than 14,000 soldiers lost their jobs and their dignity over the last 17 years because they were gay, but there will be no more victims of this injustice."
Far from victims of injustice, these 14,000 were LARGELY people who used the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" law/policy to end the contract they had obligated themselves to in service of the United States military. 
I resent when activists imply that these people have been hunted down and prosecuted, or that all the folks in today's military even give a stray thought to whether a fellow ship mate is gay or not. Perhaps some do, but in my 21 plus years of service, I have rarely heard the topic discussed.  No one I know cares enough about what our fellow service members do with their sex lives to bother with a discussion of the topic.
This topic illustrates amply what I believe more strongly every day - the important stuff in life is entirely too important to trust to a government to make it right.  Perhaps better said, if it's important, it should not be entrusted to politicians.