The so-called "don't ask, don't tell" policy introduced in 1993 prohibits openly gay men and women from serving in the military. It is a deeply flawed policy, but was perhaps at the time the best that could be expected in order to allow men and women of all sexual orientations to serve their country.

Surveys by Gallup and the Pew Research Center over the last couple of years have found that a majority of Americans now approve of allowing openly gay men and women to serve in the military. Times are changing. So are attitudes and the needs of the military as this country fights wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. But still these potential enlistees are refused.

From a practical perspective, it is ludicrous to turn away from military recruiting stations gay men and women who want to serve their country. Yet we hear such errant nonsense as that from Elaine Donnelly of the Center for Military Readiness, who argues that allowing openly gay service personnel would cause recruitment to drop and threaten unit cohesion.

Why? Because, she says, "in conditions of forced intimacy, people should not have to expose themselves to other persons who are sexually attracted to them." We assume she means that in a figurative, not literal, sense.

Such antediluvian claptrap is wrong in so many ways and has every appearance of using a presumed hurt to military effectiveness as a shield for prejudice. Yet its very expression shows that acceptance of gays in the U.S. military faces significant hurdles.

That's not the case in 24 foreign armies in which openly gay personnel serve to no detrimental effect.

Gay-rights advocates are waging a reinvigorated campaign against "don't ask, don't tell," though a House bill to change the policy has only 119 supporters, of whom a mere five are Republicans.

With those numbers, immediate legislative action appears unlikely, so change will have to be effected through the court of public opinion.

Right now there are an estimated 60,000 gay people serving in the armed forces. Because of "don't ask, don't tell," they can fight and die for their country, but they can't tell anybody who they really are. They must lie or dissemble to cover up their sexuality.

That's one military rule we can't salute.