When challenged by a ex-Marine, Sen. Claire McCaskill defended her vote to change the policy prohibiting people who are openly gay from serving in the military.

McCaskill, D-Mo., spoke at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 280 in Columbia Tuesday as part of a two-day tour across the state addressing issues facing veterans and promoting what she has done for them.

During a question and answer period, the former Marine asked McCaskill why she voted in the Senate Armed Services Committee to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy before reports on the impact of such a change were complete.

She said although the committee voted to change the policy, the changes will not go into effect until the reports are complete and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense confirm it will not destabilize the military or negatively impact morale.

She also explained to the audience why she believes the policy needs to be changed, echoing the words of Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen.

“I respected the way he said it, ‘our military is the best in the world because of the integrity in the military’,” McCaskill said. “We welcome their service, we accept their service, we mourn at their sacrifice, but yet we ask them to lose their integrity about who they are.”

McCaskill compared her vote to repeal the policy to President Harry Truman’s controversial decision to integrate the armed services in 1948.

She said 82 percent of Americans were opposed to integration at the time. She said generals’ remarks on integration were strikingly similar to the rhetoric used in favor of keeping the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in place.

“The quotes are frankly identical to what we’re hearing now,” she said. “‘This will cause chaos. This will cause physical violence within the military. I don’t want to shower with a black man. I don’t want to sleep in the same building with a black man. I don’t want to be in the same fox hole.’”

McCaskill said she was confident Secretary of Defense Robert Gates would exercise his power to veto the policy change if he feels it would negatively impact the military.

“I’ve watched the Secretary of Defense,” McCaskill said. “He’s perfectly capable of independent judgment. This Secretary of Defense has served under [President] George [W.] Bush, is serving under President Obama, and I’ve watched him tell both presidents ‘No.’”

Jon Hall, a retired Major General who served 32 years in the Air Force, said he has known many people who were gay who served in the military but were terrified they would be terminated if their colleagues discovered their sexual orientation.

Hall, who is gay, knew a gay Air Force colonel who lost his retirement and veteran’s benefits when his sexual orientation was discovered after the colonel had served 26 years in the Air Force.

In the down economy, Hall said, he thinks many more people who are gay would take advantage of career opportunities in the armed services if the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy were repealed.

“There’s a lot of gay people who would join the military if they didn’t have to lie about it,” Hall said.