We already knew that 70% of the 115,000 responders say, essentially, that it would be no big deal. Only in the Marines was there a significant negative response.
But, even there, 84% of Marines from combat corps units said that they thought they had worked with homosexual service members in the past and found the experience either "good," "very good," or neutral." This undercuts that last-ditch claim that it would be disruptive of the vaunted Marine macho culture.
One of the co-authors of the study, Defense Department General Counsel Jeh Johnson, said this:
"The reality is that there are gay men and lesbians already serving in today's U.S. military, and most Service members recognize this. . . . Further, in the course of our assessment, it became apparent to us that, aside from the moral and religious objections to homosexuality, much of the concern about 'openly' gay Service members is driven by misperceptions and stereotypes."The report's executive summary includes this:
". . . in recent times a number of other countries have transitioned to policies that permit open military service by gay men and lesbians. These include the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Germany, Italy, and Israel. Significantly, prior to change, surveys of the militaries in Canada and the U.K. indicated much higher levels of resistance than our own survey results -- as high as 65% for some areas -- but the actual implementation of change in those countries went much more smoothly than expected, with little or no disruption."I really don't know how John McCain can continue to demagogue this. He's already spun all the way around several times and made a fool of himself. This leaves him little room -- even for him, but he'll find a way, you can be sure.
If this doesn't tip the scale of wavering senators, then there's just no redeeming feature left in them. That's all.
Ralph
Boy, that report couldn't be any clearer. It's hard to imagine mounting an argument against repeal [Unless it's our favorite Senator, Saxby Chambliss]:
ReplyDeleteFeb 2, 2010: ... Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) expressed his concern that repealing the rule would pave the way for allowing "alcohol use, adultery, fraternization, and body art" in the military - and that the army must "exclude persons whose presence in the armed forces would create unacceptable risk to the armed forces' high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion"...
"In my opinion," he said, "the presence in the armed forces of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would very likely create an unacceptable risk to those high standards."
Soldiers drinking? getting tatoos? hanging out? Oh my!...
Or, God forbid, having sex with people they're not married to. Oh, the degredation of American family values !!
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