By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
Flawed surveying and political bias are being blamed for a long-awaited Pentagon study on gays in the military that claims a majority of service men and women do not believe ending the ban known as “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” will have a negative effect on the nation’s defenses.
According to the Associated Press, the report, which was released yesterday, was based on a survey of 115,000 troops and 44,200 military spouses. The study found that 70 percent of troops surveyed believed that repealing the law would have mixed, positive or no effect, while 30 percent predicted negative consequences. Opposition was strongest among combat troops, with at least 40 percent saying it was a bad idea. That number climbs to 46 percent among Marines.
It was hoped that the study would support the aims of congressional Democrats who want to repeal the ban during the lame-duck session of Congress, but mounting skepticism from Republicans and questions about the veracity of the report may derail those plans.
A major problem with the survey used by the Pentagon is that it failed to ask several pertinent questions which would have had a major impact on the responses given.
Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Robert Maginnis summed up the deficiencies in this report appearing on the Family Research Council (FRC) website:
“The military member survey ignores important questions and has serious flaws,” Maginnis writes.
• It fails to ask whether the homosexual ban should be repealed and whether the respondent is homosexual.
• It asks numerous questions about the impact perceived homosexuals have on unit performance and for a variety of undefined military concepts like readiness. The poll fails to corroborate the validity of the perceptions.
• It presents homosexuality – which is not defined – as a neutral factor and privacy questions only offer accommodation answers.
• Only one in four members randomly selected to participate in the survey actually participated.
The FRC and the Center for Security Policy (CSP) conducted its own poll in which they asked more than 10,000 active and retire military members if they wanted “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” to be repealed and nearly 63 percent said no.
“Their opposition was consistent across every demographic-including age (younger respondents were actually more opposed to repeal than their middle-aged counterparts), gender, and service branch (Marines were the strongest in terms of opposition to overturning the policy at 68%),” the FRC reports.
However, even with the allegedly flawed report working in their favor, it seems unlikely that liberals in Congress will be able to repeal the policy during the lame duck session. The House has already voted to overturn it, but this was part of a broader defense policy bill that Senate Republicans are blocking because they want more time to debate other provisions of the bill.
Meanwhile, the FRC is encouraging citizens to contact their Senators and urge them to “hold their fire on a repeal until they’ve held comprehensive hearings on the survey and its shortcomings. Our troops deserve it.”
To contact your Senator, visit http://www.frcaction.org/contact-elected-officials
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