Pentagon report is clear: repeal DADT, no significant problems expected
Today the Pentagon released the results of a 9 month long study into the possible effects of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. The entire report is available here. It unequivocally calls for the repeal of DADT and provides plenty of evidence from surveying service members to support the decision.
John McCain wants to filibuster the repeal. Our Senator Pryor has voiced opposition to repeal. Our Senator Lincoln seems like a good repeal vote, but nothing is for sure. Call the Capitol Switchboard (202-224-3121) and ask for your Senator’s office.
Remember that argument that the Marines don’t support repeal? “84 percent of Marine combat corps combat arms units who said they thought they’d worked with homosexual service-members in the past found the experience either very good, good, or neutral,” says Greg Sargent of the Washington Post. No more excuses.
Beyond looking at DADT, the report recommends changing military law that prohibits sodomy between consenting adults. So regardless of Congress or the Court’s action, the authors of the report think that military personnel should be afforded the right that all other Americans already have because of the 2003 Lawrence v. Texas decision: what and who you choose to do is your business, not the government’s.
An important reason why Congressional repeal is important is that it allows the Pentagon to develop their own transition process. If not, the courts are quite likely to rule against the government in the pending DADT case and impose their own transition process. It’s up to the Senate to pass the repeal so that President Obama can sign it and order the military to integrate with all deliberate speed.
The executive report summarizes:
The general lesson we take from these transformational experiences in history is that in matters of personnel change within the military, predictions and surveys tend to overestimate negative consequences, and underestimate the U.S. military’s ability to adapt and incorporate within its ranks the diversity that is reflective of American society at large.
Our conclusions are also informed by the experiences of our foreign allies. To be sure, there is no perfect comparator to the U.S. military, and the cultures and attitudes toward homosexuality vary greatly among nations of the world. However, 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.
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