Pentagon Report On Gays In Military Reveals Little To No Risk In Allowing Gays To Serve Openly

As expected, the officially release of the Pentagon commissioned study on gays in the military and the effects of repealing a policy that prohibits openly gay service personal concludes that repealing the now 17 year old law known as “don’t ask, don’t tell” would pose a minimal risk to military readiness, and a majority of those survey – 70-percent – believe that a repeal would present little or no effect on unit cohesion. The Washington Post, which first reported the conclusions of the nine-month study earlier this month, says that “According to a survey sent to 400,000 service members, 69 percent of those responding reported that they had served with someone in their unit who they believed to be gay or lesbian. Of those who did, 92 percent stated that their unit's ability to work together was very good, good, or neither good nor poor, according to the sources. Combat units reported similar responses, with 89 percent of Army combat units and 84 percent of Marine combat units saying they had good or neutral experiences working with gays and lesbians. At the same time, the report found that 30 percent of those surveyed overall -- and between 40 and 60 percent of the Marine Corps -- either expressed concern or predicted a negative reaction if Congress were to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" law, which allows gays and lesbians to serve in the military on the condition that they keep their sexuality a secret.” The Defense Department will officially release the report’s finding at 2:00pm EST. The United States Senate is awaiting publication of the study before proceeding with a defense policy bill that includes language designed to end “don’t ask, don’t tell,” with an estimated ten moderate senators on the record saying that they will wait to read the full report before determining how to vote.