[Shuler's] disappointing vote on Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) reveals that [he is] either unaware of the U.S. armed forces' gains in civil rights or doubtful of our military's ability to adapt. At the end of World War II, Harry Truman gave the order for the troops to integrate. Although the order was unpopular, the armed forces complied, and the results were so successful that they provided a model for industry and institutions.
Similarly, the military has not balked at the increasing role of women in a field traditionally dominated by men.
History does not lightly dispense the epithet of "The Great," and yet one scarcely has to open a textbook to find two gay emperors, celebrated for military excellence, who bore this title: Alexander of Macedon and Frederick of Prussia. Our own history might have been very different had Baron Wilhelm von Steuben, who was gay, not trained our troops at Valley Forge.
In short, Mr. Shuler, I am not impressed with your knowledge of history, but you should know you're on the wrong side of it. More heinous than your vote on DADT was the nay vote you cast on the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. As with DADT, your vote was in the minority. I wonder what, centuries from now, the dry, dusty tomes may say about you. However many military leaders the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community may claim, we have many, many more historians.
While you cannot alter your appallingly bad history with the LGBT community — that is already written —you may, in the near future, have the chance to redeem yourself with the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA), now before Congress. I urge you not merely to vote for this but to advocate strongly for it. It is the right thing to do, and it is high time you established a record that does not look exactly like your predecessor's.
— James Dye
Asheville
The Military high command also was not particularly in favor of this and had desired Congress wait until it ocmpleted it’s studies and implementation plan before proceding. Are they all ignoramuses as well?