Well, DADT is history.  And it's about time.

It's the first grown-up moment in politics in recent memory.  I guess we should be proud of them.  After the old bait and switch, our own Senator Scott Brown did what's right and stood with eight other Republicans in favor of repeal. 

Among them was not John McCain, needless to say, who was busy spinning apocalyptic post-repeal fantasies:

“I hope that when we pass this legislation that we will understand that we are doing great damage,” Mr. McCain said. “And we could possibly and probably, as the commandant of the Marine Corps said, and as I have been told by literally thousands of members of the military, harm the battle effectiveness vital to the survival of our young men and women in the military.”

Blah blah blah.  Seriously.  And when none of his apocalyptic predictions come to pass, will Mr. McCain admit he was wrong?  Can you imagine if this crusty old crank had made it to the White House?

Having said this, the current occupant will no doubt be crowing about his "fierce advocacy" at fundraisers for the next two years.  I'll wait to hear the inside story before I shower him with flavored condoms and pooka beads.   He did what he did, and all's well that ENDAs well.  But "fierce"?  I dunno. I'm not sold.   

But I will say: this was a wrong perpetrated by a Democratic president, so it's fitting that a Democratic Congress has finally made it right.  And while Republican leadership is utterly lacking on issues of social, civil, and economic equality, it's still a cautionary tale about the limits of the Democratic leadership's "advocacy". 

And any gratitude we might feel for the leadership for this should be tempered by the tenor of the debate, in which we had a choice between utter derogation on the one hand and patronizing condescension on the other.  When Jimmy Carter says we're ready for a gay president (haven't we already had a couple of those?) he fails to realize we still don't really have a place at the table.

What we can be unequivocally proud of is that the gay community and its allies have lead on the repeal of DADT.  We have hammered way at the bigotry behind the ban, and have made a solid case for equality.  Regardless of affiliation, members of the GLBT community have been mobilized, smart, and vocal in pursuit of their civil rights.  Anyone who spoke out and spoke up on the repeal is responsible for it in my opinion.

I have to say I will sort of miss all the steamy sex scenarios Republisexuals always shared with the nation at Congressional hearings about the repeal.  On those days C-SPAN was better than X-TUBE.  Fortunately, we still have ENDA and DOMA, and if we're lucky we'll get some hearings on them sometime in the future.  Married couples fantasies aren't quite as much fun for me, but may I suggest Men at Play (NSFW) to Republicans looking for new workplace scenarios?

They'll have time to dream up plenty.  Fierce advocacy notwithstanding, I'm not thinking anything else on the old gay agenda will be coming up for a vote anytime soon.