Gays in the military. What's the big deal?

This topic has raised its head again. President Clinton's don't ask, don't tell policy isn't working so, it's time to reconsider how gays should be treated by the American military.
My position is the same as the late Sen. Barry Goldwater's position. Goldwater, a retired major general in the Air Force Reserve, in the early 1990s was asked about whether gays should be allowed in the military. It was after he retired from the Senate, where he had been chairman of the Armed Services Committee.
That right-wing extremist from the 1964 presidential campaign said simply: What's the big deal. Gays always have been in the military and they always will be.
However, it is refreshing to see General Colin Powell climb on board the gays in the military bandwagon. When he was chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, he opposed allowing gays in the military saying it would ruin unit cohesion. That's exactly the same argument used in the 1940s by people who wanted to keep the Army segregated and to keep African Americans like Powell in menial jobs and in black units with white officers.
While I am sure Powell would have made a fine truck driver for the Army, it would have been a waste of talent to keep him in that kind of position seeing the excellent job he did as national security advisor to President Reagan, chairman of the joint chiefs under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Clinton and as secretary of state under the second President Bush.
It's the same with gays in the military. The military spends thousands of dollars and incredible amounts of time training people and giving them experience to do their jobs only to kick them out when it turns out they are gay. While I don't have any statistics, I am told that it is especially hard on lesbians. As a society, we can't afford to waste this talent and the training.
Sexual preference should be treated like race.
The military had terrible racial problems during the Vietnam era. There was a race riot on the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk. There were simply awful racial problems throughout the military. I was in when we worked to get racism out of the Army.
Today, the U.S. Army is probably the most non-racial entity in America. Soldiers are judged by how well they perform their duties, not by the color of their skins. I am sure there are racists in the Army but if they start acting on it, they either cure problem or they are shown the door.
The same will happen when gays are allowed to serve openly. There may be problems at first but the military will work them out.