Thursday, November 11, 2010

What will be the Party of No's objection now?

A substantial majority of Americans--70 percent according to a May Gallup poll--reject continued discrimination against openly gay and lesbian service members. The President, his Republican Secretary of Defense, and Democrats in Congress similarly reject this discrimination.

And now the long-awaited survey of active military members reveals that a similar substantial majority of servicepeople don't see harms from ending discrimination.

From the Washington Post,
A Pentagon study group has concluded that the military can lift the ban on gays serving openly in uniform with only minimal and isolated incidents of risk to the current war efforts, according to two people familiar with a draft of the report, which is due to President Obama on Dec. 1.

More than 70 percent of respondents to a survey sent to active-duty and reserve troops over the summer said the effect of repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy would be positive, mixed or nonexistent, said two sources familiar with the document. The survey results led the report's authors to conclude that objections to openly gay colleagues would drop once troops were able to live and serve alongside them.
Just before the election, the Republican minority in the Senate blocked legislation that would have repealed the military's policy of discharging openly gay and lesbian service-members.

Don't look for this new evidence to change many Republican minds or to end Republican obstructionism.