Pentagon: Openly Gay Troops Won't Harm the Military

by Michael Jones · 2010-11-30 11:17:00 UTC
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The Pentagon has released the results of their mammoth survey on how to implement a repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," with senior Pentagon leaders speaking at a press briefing this afternoon. The gist of their report?

That openly gay troops won't harm the military at all, and that the vast majority of servicemebers -- a staggering 70 percent -- have no problem serving alongside gay or lesbian colleagues.

That figure is likely to play a prominent role in testimony before the U.S. Senate this week, as the debate on repeal legislation moves forward. And it's an important figure to repeat over and over again, especially considering that politicians like Sen. John McCain, Sen. Lindsay Graham, and even Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor, wax on about how homosexuality is intrinsically evil and that the military might go through a colossal freak out if it has to accept openly gay or lesbian troops.

These Senators are just dreadfully wrong. And they're about to be schooled by senior military leaders who say that the Defense Department is strong enough to implement a repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," and current U.S. servicemembers are honorable enough to work alongside colleagues regardless of their sexual orientation.

Other statistics from the Pentagon's study echo that the time is right for a repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Nearly 70 percent of troops said that they had served alongside someone who they believe was gay or lesbian, and of those, a whopping 92 percent thought that unit cohesion was either fantastic, pretty fantastic, or that it made no difference at all whether someone was gay or lesbian.

More to the point, 89 percent of Army combat units and 84 percent of Marine combat units said that they had positive experiences working alongside people who were gay or lesbian. And 74 percent of spouses of military service-members said that repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" would have zero impact on their view of whether their husbands or wives should continue to serve.

Think those are statistics that can influence some moderate Senators -- here's looking at you Sens. Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Richard Lugar, Scott Brown, Mark Kirk, George Voinovich, Blanche Lincoln, Lisa Murkowski, and even John Ensign -- to jump on board the repeal bandwagon? Here's hoping, because we need these votes to combat the antics of Sen. John McCain, who has pledged to keep discrimination in the military alive and well at all costs.

Photo credit: U.S. Army

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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