Former Secretary of State Colin Powell has changed his opinion on allowing gays to serve openly in the military, and said today that he favors repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’

“In the almost 17 years since the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ legislation was passed, attitudes and circumstances have changed,” General Powell said in a statement issued by his office. He added: “I fully support the new approach presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee this week by Secretary of Defense Gates and Admiral Mullen.”

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was one of the craziest pieces of legislation ever passed in America; it put the US government in the bizarre position of encouraging people to conceal their sexual orientation. As long as they didn’t tell the truth, they wouldn’t suffer any punishment. That’s simply a perversion of the principles of good governance.

The only positive aspect of this weird law is that it served as a stepping stone to bring the US to a point where we might be ready to overcome the bigotry of the past and treat people as individuals instead of stereotypes. The only criteria for serving in the military should be whether you can do the job well.