WASHINGTON - Today the Senate takes up the issue of repealing the ban on homosexuals serving openly in the military.

Senate Democrats have attached repeal of the 17-year-old "don't ask, don't tell" law to a bill authorizing $726 billion in military spending next year. The fate of the move appears uncertain, but whichever way the votes go, repeal seems destined to become a major issue in this fall's midterm elections.

The law is already under siege. A federal judge in California recently ruled the ban on gays was unconstitutional, even though her opinion doesn't hold any weight with the U-S military....