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tazzygirl -> RE: Republicans block bill to lift military gay ban (9/22/2010 7:47:50 AM)
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quote:
The 2006 Zogby Poll specifically asked about known gays serving in a unit. The results showed that 23% of U.S. veterans of the Iraq/Afghanistan Wars knew for certain there were gays in their own unit, and that the majority of them stated that this fact was widely known by others in their unit. Furthermore, another 45% of these Iraq/Afghanistan War veterans stated that they suspected there were gays in their own unit. And 73% of the troops said they were comfortable working with gays and lesbians. Again, with tens of thousands of straight troops indicating they either know for certain or suspect there are gays in their own unit, where are all the problems? Since evidently the problems are few, if any, how can anyone justify keeping DADT and discharging competent, trained and experienced gay and lesbian troops if they are not negatively impacting operational effectiveness?
The problem with the current Military Times poll, if its results indeed prove to suffer from selection bias and if indeed the results purport to demonstrate a negative view of gays serving in the military (based on questions that support negative views of gay service members), is its potential to influence decision makers in the Pentagon and in Congress. Hopefully these leaders will be aware of the problems with any poll conducted in an unscientific manner and whose results therefore cannot be said to accurately reflect the opinion of the active duty workforce.
Ideally, the Pentagon should conduct its own research on this issue through statistically valid polls which contain only unbiased questions. I would love to see an updated version of the Zogby Poll conducted in which the troops are again queried on their knowledge of serving with gay, lesbian or bisexual peers. If, as I suspect, there is an even higher percentage than in the previous poll of troops serving with known gay, lesbian or bisexual peers, and if indeed the Pentagon can verify that there are no demonstrable problems with unit morale, unit cohesion and combat readiness, despite the known presence of gay troops, then that should herald the end of DADT. If the Pentagon won’t or can’t conduct such a poll, perhaps a group of interested independent agencies could jointly sponsor and fund a scientifically valid poll of the active duty troops. At the very least, it might provide a more realistic view of gays serving in the military than is likely to result from the current Military Times poll.
http://servicemembersunited.org/?p=1824
quote:
Growing Military Support for Repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
•73 percent of military personnel are comfortable with lesbians and gays (Zogby International, 2006).
•The younger generations, those who fight America's 21st century wars, largely don't care about whether someone is gay or not-and they do not link job performance with sexual orientation.
•A recent article in Joint Force Quarterly concludes, “after a careful examination, there is no scientific evidence to support the claim that unit cohesion will be negatively affected if homosexuals serve openly.”
Growing Public Support to End "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
•Seventy-five percent of Americans support gays serving openly (ABC News/Washington Post, 2010). This includes majorities of Independents (77%) and Republicans (64%) who favor repeal.
•Majorities of weekly churchgoers (60%) and conservatives (58%) also want DADT repealed (Gallup, 2009).
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Hurts Military Readiness.
•The U.S. must recruit and retain the greatest number of the best and brightest - especially while we are fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
•The Pentagon reports that 75% of young Americans are ineligible to serve in our military because of inadequate education, criminal records or weight problems. Conduct waivers have been given for recruits with records of bomb threats, sex crimes and negligent or vehicular homicide. And yet, qualified, smart, law-abiding and fit youths who want to serve are being excluded merely because of their sexual orientation.
•According to the GAO, as of 2003, the military had discharged more than 750 mission-critical service members and more than 320 with skills in important languages such as Arabic, Korean and Farsi (GAO, Military Personnel: Financial Costs and Loss of Critical Skills Due to DOD’s Homosexual Conduct Policy Cannot Be Completely Estimated).
America's Allies Support Open Military Service.
•More than two dozen countries allow gays to serve openly. The US and Turkey are the only two original NATO countries that still have bans in place.
•Studies of the militaries in Australia, Israel, Great Britain and Canada have shown open service to have no adverse effect on enrollment or retention.
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is Expensive.
•The same GAO study identified almost $200 million in costs for the first ten years of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” while concluding that the total costs could not be estimated.
•A follow-up study by an expert commission put these costs at more than $363 million.
Pentagon, Government Studies Support Open Service.
•In 1993, RAND Corp. concluded that openly gay people in the U.S. military do not negatively impact unit cohesion, morale, good order or military readiness. An update of this study should be completed in the next 90 days.
•Several other military-commissioned and GAO studies have concluded that open service does not undermine military readiness, troop morale or national security.
LGBT Patriots Are Serving with Honor and Distinction Now.
•Today, there are at least 66,000 gay Americans serving on active duty and one million gay veterans in the United States, according to the Urban Institute.
•Admiral Mullen told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he had served with gays since 1968.
Federal Government Agencies Do Not Discriminate.
•The CIA, FBI, State Department, the Defense Department on the civilian side, and defense contractors do not discriminate based on sexual orientation.
http://www.sldn.org/pages/about-dadt
Sort of puts a hole in your theory, racer.
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