M I LIT A R Y
Military leaders: *Don’t Ask’ ban counterproductive
Former top brass call for repeal
by Matt Comer . Q-Notes staff
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — A new report
from the University of California-
Santa Barbara’s Michael D. Palm
Center, led by a team of retired senior
flag and general officers from the U.S.
military, has concluded that the “Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell” ban on openly gay
service members is counterproduc
tive and should end. The report
marks the first time a Marine Corps
general has ever called publicly for an
end to the gay ban. .
“I believe this should have been
done much earlier,” said Brigadier
General Hugh Aitken, USMC (Ret.),
one of the authors of the report.
The report makes 10 findings and
four recommendations, including that
the policy prevents some gay troops
from performing their duties; that gays
already serve openly; that tolerance of
homosexuality in the military has
grown dramatically; and that lifting the
ban is “unlikely to pose any significant
risk to morale, good order, discipline, or
cohesion.”
General John Shalikashvili, the
former Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who
previously favored the gay ban but reversed
course last year, endorsed the officers’ new
More Support&r Allowing
study, calling it “one of the most comprehen
sive evaluations of the issue of gays in the mil
itary since the Rand study 15 years ago.”
The study was based on discussions the
senior flag and general officers held with
expert panels in
Washington, D.C.
over the past year.
The group heard
from senior and
enlisted military
members, scholar
ly experts and
government
1 officials. ’
t Prominent
“ opponents of
2 letting open
I gays serve in
S the military
were also invit-
s ed to testify.
S Aaron
5 Belkin, director
3 of the Palm
“ Center, said the
*
£ new report
i could bolster
S recent inomen-
I turn in Congress
^ to change the
Gays to Serve Openly
in the MiUtaiy
2006
Changa
FavOpp
V- ♦/
Fgy Qpp
•/ */
Favor
Total
52
45
60
32
+S
Men
44
54
55
37
Women
59
37
66
26
+7
18-29
56
43
72
23
+16
30-49
56
42-
62
30
+6
50-64
47
50
59
35
+12
65+
41
50
47
39
+6
CoUege grad
61
38
71
21
+10
Some college
58
40
69
27
+11
HS grad or less
46
50
50
40
+4
Northeast
62
36
66
27
+4
Midwest
53
43
61
32
+8
South
42
55
58
35
+16
West
56
41
61
29
+5
Republicans
39
60
46
46
+7
Conservative
30
69
36
58
+6
ModcratefLiberal
54
45
62
29
+8
Democrats
60
36
70
23
+10
Conserv./Mod
57
39
64
29
■ +7
Liberal
71
27
85
9
+14
Independent
55
42
66
30
+5
Protestant
45
52
53
38
+8
White evangelical
’ 32
66
43
47
+11
White mainline
55
42
63
30
+8
Catholic
58
39
67
26
+9
White, non-Hisp.
58
39
66
29
+8
Secular'
72
26
74
22
+2
policy. “Many lawmakers
want to untie the militar/s hands on this polic)^’
Belkin said, “and today’s report will likely add
Maisjirhs
S O U -1 H END
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pressure on Congress to act.”
Results from a mid-March 2006 poll from
the Pew Research Center for the People & the
Press shows that public acceptance of LGBT
people has grown, including views on “Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Among the results, the poll showed that
between 1994 and 2006, acceptance of openly
gay service members rose eight percentage
points — 60 percent of Americans support
allowing open gays in the military, compared
with only 52 percent in 1994.
The greatest change in views was among
poll participants in the South. In 1994, only 42
percent of Southerners favored openly gay serv
ice, In 2006,58 percent supported open service.
The Pew Research poll was conducted
among 1,405 adults from March 8-12,2006.
One day after the release of the Palm
Center’s report, 52 retired U.S. generals and
admirals signed a statement supporting the
repeal of the discriminatory U.S. law.
The statement read, in part,“We respect
fully urge Congress to repeal the‘don’t ask,
don’t tell’ policy. Those of us signing this letter
have dedicated our lives to defending the
rights of our citizens to believe whatever they
wish. As General Colin Powell, Former
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs said when the
‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy was enacted, it is
not the place of the military or those in senior
leadership to make moral judgments...
“As is the case in Britain, Israel, and other
nations which allow gays and lesbians to
serve openly, our service members are pro
fessionals who are able to work together
effectively despite differences in race, gender,
religion, and sexuality. Such collaboration
reflects the strength and the best traditions
of our democracy.” I
info: www.palmcenter.org
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JULY 26.2008 • Q-NOTES I 3