Are we nearing the end of the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” era? If Staff Sgt. Eric Alva has any say, it just may be. Alva is believed to be the first soldier wounded in the Iraqi war. And he happens to be gay.

Alva called for the policy to be abandoned at a news conference on Capitol Hill Wednesday where he also announced his homosexuality.

Massachusetts Rep Marty Meehan is leading the charge to have the ban lifted. Having failed once before in his attempt, Meehan thinks now is the time to try again. Retired Army Gen. John Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when “Don’t ask, don’t tell” was introduced, stated he was having second thoughts about the policy. “Last year I held a number of meetings with gay soldiers and Marines,” the General wrote in The New York Times. “These conversations showed me just how much the military has changed, and that gays and lesbians can be accepted by their peers.”

(Fighting for democracy, freedoms and rights over there, while many still don’t have them here.)

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