76: Gays in the Military 1993 - Military Surveillance

However, for all that the military mostly got its on way, this was only a small battle won in a war it was otherwise losing for public opinion. With recent revelations about decades of misleading Congress to ensure massive increases in military budgets, and a spate of scandals about sexual misconduct in all branches of the armed forces, the military was finding itself subject to a new kind of public scrutiny regarding its morals and efficiency. While much of the public were unsure about the place of gays in the armed forces, the military’s own position had made itself seem distinctly backward at a time of increasing social progress and tolerance. For all the Gulf War a couple of years ago had bolstered much public support for the armed forces (yellow ribbons and all that), this national internal conflict at home only served to cement divisions about the armed services which had seemed to be on the point of repair and which are still outstanding.