As the death of Don't Ask: Don't Tell creeps toward its demise, gay and straight people alike would do well to see the movie, "Coming Out Under Fire." (You can order it on Netflix or buy the book at Amazon used for $14.64. The DVD on Amazon is as low as $8.49 and the VHS goes at $2.74.)

This film was made in 1994 and has interviews with gay service men and women who fight in World War II. The film shows actually war time scenes, bases, induction centers -including frontal nudity, and the camps where gay people were imprisoned.

For the record, one hundred thousand gay people were given dishonorable discharges in WW II.

When the war started, gay people found in the military were given prison sentences of five years of hard labor. As the war progressed the officers stopped turning in gay men as the war effort required as many people as possible.

Then when the war started winding down, gay people were thrown out by the thousands as they were no longer needed. If a man or woman got a dishonorable discharge, they would receive no veteran's benefits after the war. A hundred thousand gay people could not get medical help, job preferment, or education under the GI Bill of Rights.

Think of how much money the USA saved by throwing gay people out of the military when they were no longer needed. Of course, there is no counting of how many gay people died in that war for their country.

"Coming out Under Fire" is a must see or read for both gay and straight people.