Security risks

Historically, being gay was considered a security risk because of an individual's fear of being "found out." Ostensibly, they might do anything - including give away state secrets - in order to keep mum the truth about their sexual orientation.

That was then, this is now. Until recently, sexual orientation wasn't an obstacle to obtaining national security clearance; in today's society, fear of being outed doesn't mean what it might have in the past. The Bush Administration, continuing its efforts to drag our society back in time, has reinstated "being gay" as a possible factor in the denial of a national security clearance.

Perhaps it's appropriate; this Administration is one of the few places left in America where the fear of being outed might be growing, rather than subsiding.