'Don't ask, don't tell' law's expected repeal creates strange state of limbo

By The Post's military correspondent Greg Jaffe:

The day after Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced in March that the military would ease enforcement of its "don't ask, don't tell" policy, a 21-year-old soldier in Baghdad learned that he had been outed by a fellow service member.

The soldier's command opened an investigation into the charge, and he quickly retained a lawyer. Then, nothing happened. His platoon sergeant told him that his command was going to "stick the investigation in a manila envelope and put the envelope in a desk," recalled the soldier, whose name is being withheld at his request.

The only change he noticed was that his platoon sergeant, once prone to shouting out a derogatory term for gay men, cut back his usage.

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