My solution to the "don't ask, don't tell" policy debate

I think it's stupid that openly gay people can't be in the army.  I mean, there are some great people who were in training for the military who had to leave the army because they revealed they were gay.  It's not fair to gay people that they have to stay closeted if the want to serve their country.  I think that goes against the  Constitution because it says all people have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  What if simply being allowed to be themselves without having to keep part of them in the closet is their pursuit of happiness.  Some opponents of the repealing of "don't ask, don't tell" say that having openly gay military members housed with other soldiers their own gender is as awkward as if you put the opposite genders in housing together.  Well, if that's all their worried about, then the solution is simple: straight girls with straight girls, straight guys with straight guys, gays with gays and lesbians with lesbians.  Then everyone could feel comfortable and be themselves. 


I say this because I have several friends who are gay, and who would be happy to serve their wcountry but can't because they don't want to go back into the closet after working so hard to come out of the closet in the first place.  They are passionate about protecting the US and are proud Americans, yet this policy is barring them from military service simply on grounds of sexual orientation.  This policy is blatantly anti-gay and prejudiced.  It's terrible that they cannot do what they want simply because the armed forces have homophobic policies.  A lot of homosexuals who have "mission critical" skills like speaking Arabic are turned away simply because they are homosexual.  Think how much more sucessful and/or larger the armed forces could be if all those homomsexual people were allowed to join!  We would have more manpower, more translators, more intelligence.  But as it is, we don't.  It's time to change America's homophobic policies like "don't ask, don't tell" and also allow gay marriage.  Homosexuals deserve happiness and the right to the jobs of their choice just as much as heterosexuals.