I think you said it very well, jgoins. I don't think the problem lies within the gays but within our perceptions of them. The gays I've known are well behaved, perhaps more well behaved than heterosexuals because they're ever aware of how quickly the ignorant villagers may come after them with torches, axes, and pitchforks. They aren't the danger here, it's the rest of us who present the possible danger to them. We're slowly moving to the place where it's not us and them but where it just all us, and because they've always been with us maybe doing away with the don't ask don't tell rule is a step toward acceptance. It's not an endorsement for a way of being that is different from our own, just an acknowledgement that these folks shouldn't have to be fearful and live in the shadows as long as they're not harmong anyone, just like everybody else.