Don't ask, don't tell
Here's an interesting post from Dale Carpenter of the Volokh Conspiracy on gays in the military. Carpenter notes that the number of service members discharged for homosexuality fell rather steadily from 1982 to 1994, then rose starting in 1995 (he erroneously says 1994) up through 2001 (with the exception of a slight decline in one year), then fell sharply in 2002 and 2003 (the last year for which he has data). The pivot points in the curve are thus 1994 and 2001, both with obvious significance: 1994 marked the installation by statute of the Clinton administration's don't-ask-don't-tell policy, and 2001 was the year of September 11 and the beginning of our active response in the war against Islamofascist terrorists. DADT, as Carpenter points out, actually resulted in rising discharges of gays; after September 11, as during other wars, discharges of gays declined in number.
...continue reading.

