LGBT Equality in Military Service and the Boy Scouts

Yesterday saw two developments regarding the rights of LGBT people. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced a plan to abolish what he called an "outdated" regulation that harms the armed forces: the ban on transgender people from serving openly in the military. Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who is now head of the Boy Scouts of America, approved a resolution dropping the blanket ban on openly gay scout leaders.

Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Center and a visiting professor at UC Hastings Law School, is author of Bring Me Men: Military Masculinity and the Benign Façade of American Empire.