Acceptance of Gays in the Military Grows Dramatically

I know that I talk about gays in the military with some frequency. Partly it is because living in this area with its huge military personnel population I see first hand virtually daily, patriotic, competent and responsible gays and lesbians who are serving with distinction. I also see what "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" does to them in terms of making them live secretly and the constant fear of discovery that so many of them live with. It's destructive not to mention utterly stupid - and all because of repressed, frigid, sexually dysfunctions types like Elaine Donnelly get off by disparaging gays and seeking to make them less than full citizens just to massage their warped egos. It is sick and disgusting. And it needs to end NOW. Fortunately, hearings on DADT will begin on July 23rd when the Military Personnel Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing on the impact of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The hearing will be the first since Congress enacted “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” fifteen years ago. Just in time to support throwing DADT on the garbage heap is a new poll that shows a radical change in the public attitude that shows the false premise behind DADT does not have public support (not that the gay-hating Christianists won't scream and belly ache to no end about the fabricated need to retain the policy). Here are some highlights from the Washington Post on the new polling results:
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Public attitudes about gays in the military have shifted dramatically since President Bill Clinton unveiled what became his administration's "don't ask, don't tell" policy 15 years ago today. Seventy-five percent of Americans in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll said gay people who are open about their sexual orientation should be allowed to serve in the U.S. military, up from 62 percent in early 2001 and 44 percent in 1993.

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Today, Americans have become more supportive of allowing openly gay men and women to serve in the armed forces. Support from Republicans has doubled over the past 15 years, from 32 to 64 percent. More than eight in 10 Democrats and more than three-quarters of independents now support the idea, as did nearly two-thirds of self-described conservatives.

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Changing attitudes on the issue parallel broader swings in public views about homosexuality. In their recent review of 20 years of polling data, the Pew Research Center reported "a major shift away from highly negative attitudes toward gays and support for punitive actions against gays." In the 2007 Pew data, for example, 28 percent said local school boards should have the right to fire teachers known to be gay; that was down sharply from the 51 percent who said so in 1987.

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Fifty-seven percent of white evangelical Protestants now support allowing openly gay service members in the military, compared with 82 percent of white Catholics and 80 percent of those with no declared religious affiliation. Three-quarters of both married and single people support the idea, both significantly higher than in 1993. Across all three periodic Post-ABC surveys on the issue, women have been more apt than men to support gays in the military. Today, more than eight in 10 women support allowing openly gay soldiers, compared with nearly two-thirds of men.

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Needless to say, these polling results will terrify the extreme lunatic fringe of the Christianists because it shows that despite all their lies and distortions and vast spending to denigrate gays they are nonetheless slowly losing the war. One can only wonder who their next target for discrimination will be since they seem to only feel good about themselves when slandering someone else. They are one sick bunch, in my view.