Republican Secretary of Defense: Hero of the LGBT movement

Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has an unusual resume for a Republican.

For one thing, he served as secretary of defense under both George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He served as president of both Texas A&M University and the Boy Scouts of America. He’s also, according to The Atlantic, “America’s Unlikely Gay-Rights Hero.”

RELATED: “Ultimate earthquake” more concerning than nuclear attack

Two major decisions earned him this distinction. He was secretary when the Department of Defense repealed “don’t ask, don’t tell,” and he was president of the Boy Scouts when they rescinded their ban on gay scoutmasters.

What many don’t know, Gates told 770 KTTH’s Jason Rantz, is his history of including the excluded began much earlier.

Robert Gates and the LGBT movement

Gates’ history with the issue began in the ’80s.

“The first thing I did was back in 1986 when I was deputy director of the CIA,” Gates said. “I made a decision that, for the first time in CIA history, a career woman officer who was gay would be allowed to remain working at CIA.”

Last July, President Donald Trump made headlines after tweeting “the United States Government will not accept or allow … Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military.”

Several federal judges responded by blocking the president from enforcing the ban, and in December the Department of Justice withdrew all of their challenges.

Gates doesn’t see any reason why transgender people shouldn’t be allowed to serve.

“If they have the qualifications and the credentials to serve,” Gates said, “they ought to be allowed to serve.”

Gates said the same arguments made during the “don’t ask, don’t tell” debate apply today.

“A long time ago, Senator Barry Goldwater made the comment with respect to gays in the military that the guy in the foxhole next to you … the only thing he’s going to care about is whether you shoot straight,” Gates said. “It doesn’t have anything to do with whether you are straight.”

Gates grew up in Wichita, Kansas. He says his upbringing informed his positions on these kinds of issues.

“One of the things my father taught me a long time ago was that every person should be treated on the basis of their own character and their own merits,” Gates said. “I’ve tried to do that throughout my career.”

Follow @https://twitter.com/jakerummel