The leaders of the Boy Scouts of America might want to read this article on The Huffington Post. The Pentagon has decided to go even farther than it already has on its commitment to ending pointless and, let’s face it, un-American, discrimination against gays and lesbians by allowing them to wear their uniforms should they choose to march in a gay pride parade.  That’s not strictly policy: military brass said in a memo to all branches that it was making an exception for an event in San Diego after organizers urged service men and women to wear their uniforms. I don’t know whether the Pentagon will turn this exception into a rule. It’s not absurd to restrict the wearing of uniforms at public, political events. But it’s great to see the Pentagon showing this kind of flexibility. Last month, the military marked gay pride month for the first time and officially recognized its gay and lesbian members. The Huffington Post said that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta “vowed in a video message to remove as many barriers as possible to making the military a model of equal opportunity and said gays and lesbians can be proud in uniform with the repeal last year of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law.”  Such steps, in the direction not of mere tolerance but of acceptance, make the Boy Scouts’ decision to exclude gay members seem all the more ridiculous. If you’re gay, you can serve openly in the military, and march in uniform in San Diego, but you can’t work as a scout leader in your spare time.
The Department of Defense will allow service members to march in uniform at the San Diego gay pride parade.