Pentagon Issues Results: Repeal of DADT Will Have No Negative Effects

This afternoon's report release is the capstone of over nine months of intense research by Defense Department General Counsel Jeh C. Johnson and Army Gen. Carter F. Ham and the their 66-person research team. Until this afternoon, neither knew the other's opinion on the matter.

The results? As the media has already regularly stated, a whopping 70% of service men and women believe that the repeal of DADT will have little/no effect on their unit's cohesion or capabilities. But the results are far more conclusive than that: the study received responses from over 115,000 service members, which is over 28% of the surveyed group and the largest military study to date. Given this number, the margin of error lies under one percentage point. Service members surveyed said the following:

• 70% stated there would be positive or no effect.
• 69% already believed they had worked with a homosexual person in their unit.
• 92% stated that their "ability to work together" with a homosexual coworker had been "very good", "good" or "neutral".

Additionally, the research team surveyed over 44,000 spouses of military members, only 12% of whom said that they would want their military spouse to leave the military earlier if DADT was repealed-- 74% said there would be absolutely no effect in their opinion.

Researchers also received responses from over 300 anonymous homosexual members in active military duty, via an internet forum set up for the purpose. Only 15% said that they would want to tell anyone in their unit that they were homosexual, laying to rest some concerns over the problems of "knowing someone is homosexual". One gay serviceman stated: "I think a lot of people think there is going to be a big 'outing' and people flaunting their gayness, but they forget that we're in the military. That stuff isn't supposed to be done during duty hours regardless if you're gay or straight."

For the full manuscript of the Pentagon's results, click here.

The Pentagon's results will likely incite major political debate-- on Thursday, undecided Congressmen will have the opportunity to hear from Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, Johnson and Ham in order to reach their decision regarding DADT's repeal. This is becoming increasingly important, especially considering the number of lower district courts that are currently looking at the issue.

Gates, who initially requested the report state: "[The repeal] can be done, and should be done, without posing a serious risk to military readiness."

Army General Ham, who stated today, for the first time, that he is personally against homosexuality, stated that he believes in the results, "If I didn't believe what's in that report, I wouldn't have signed it."