Town Hall columnist Bill Murchison writes in opposition to gays being allowed to serve openly in the military, in the process arguing that “Racial integration of the services following World War II was a different kettle of fish.” Murchison explains:

For one thing, sex normally outranks race as a self-identifier. For another, black and white units already existed side by side; President Truman, in 1948, merely ordered their merger. A third difference: the country was at peace, and relatively unified, at the time of the merger.

Keep in mind, the “relatively unified” country Murchison is describing was one in which racial segregation existed in both fact and law. The 1948 integration of the military was pre-Brown vs. the Board of Education, pre-Selma, pre-Rosa Parks. In describing a country in which black people could not eat in “white” restaurants or attend “white” schools or use “white” drinking fountains as “relatively unified,” Murchison demonstrates that he has no idea what that phrase means -- and may reveal more than he intends about his opposition to gays serving openly in the military.