Coming out Down Under
I didn’t realize that the Australian military has permitted its soldiers and sailors to be openly gay since 1992. This surprised me because I tend to think of Australia as America’s America. That is, we kind of look at them the way the rest of the world looks at us, as big and loud-mouthed but ...
I didn't realize that the Australian military has permitted its soldiers and sailors to be openly gay since 1992. This surprised me because I tend to think of Australia as America's America. That is, we kind of look at them the way the rest of the world looks at us, as big and loud-mouthed but essentially good-natured and well-meaning. So I was surprised to see how ahead of us they are on gays in the military. Now the Australian military is looking at equal financial benefits for same-sex partners.
I didn’t realize that the Australian military has permitted its soldiers and sailors to be openly gay since 1992. This surprised me because I tend to think of Australia as America’s America. That is, we kind of look at them the way the rest of the world looks at us, as big and loud-mouthed but essentially good-natured and well-meaning. So I was surprised to see how ahead of us they are on gays in the military. Now the Australian military is looking at equal financial benefits for same-sex partners.
I suspect that the Obama administration won’t lift "don’t ask, don’t tell" until 2010, but that when it does, the change toward permitting openly gay service members will go surprisingly smoothly.
Thomas E. Ricks is a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy. Twitter: @tomricks1
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