One more reason why DODT should cause outrage

On September 11, a group of passengers on TWA flight 93 quite possibly saved the US of an even greater catastrophe: an attack on the Capitol or the White House.  Among those passengers was Mark Bingham (left).  Most accounts of that day agree that Bingham was one of the leaders who tried to break through the cockpit to either take over the plane or keep the hijackers from crashing into the Capitol or the White House.  The passengers were unsuccessful in taking over the plane and landing it safely, but they almost certainly saved the United States from a crisis of governance.  They likely saved the lives of many senators and representatives in Congress.

John McCain spoke at Mark Bingham's memorial service.  He said, "I love my country, and I take pride in serving her. But I cannot say that I love her more or as well as Mark Bingham did."  McCain knew the role Bingham played in saving the country from unthinkable calamity, even beyond what had already occurred on September 11.

Mark Bingham was openly gay.  He was an avid rugby player, and after his death, The Bingham Cup was established to honor the gay rugby team that was victorious over all other gay teams world-wide.

John McCain surely knew Bingham was gay when he eulogized him.  If not, he surely knows it now.

No one cared whether Bingham was gay when he grabbed a drink cart and ran down the aisle of the airplane, intending to bust through the cockpit.  No one cared that right before he boarded the plane, he kissed his lover goodbye at the airport.  No one cared and no one should care.

Bingham is one of thousands of LGBT people who have given up their lives because they believed they were protecting the United States.

That folks like John McCain -- who claims that DADT is working -- can expect people to give up their lives while being forced to deny who they are is, quite simply, outrageous.