Saturday, August 21, 2010

Leaked Survey to Military Spouses on DADT Is Pointless

Excuse me, but allowing all physically and mentally qualified citizens to serve in the nation's armed forces should not hinge uon whether homophobes in military families would opt out of picnics and social events. Nor should religious bigots who might not want a gay neighbor get to dictate the nations laws on who can serve in the military. If the same sort of survey was put out and used "black" or "Hispanic" instead of gay or homosexual, imagine the firestorm. Yet those are two of the threards that run throughout the 13 page survey sent to 150,000 military family members. Once again anti-gay Christians are seeking/receiving special rights compared to the rest of the citizenry. Frankly, I am beyound over it all. A leaked copy of the survey can be viewed here via Service Members United. Here are highlights from Politico on the survey's release:
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The 13-page survey, similar to one sent to troops earlier this year, poses 44 questions on a range of topics. Among the questions: “Assume Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is repealed. If the partner of a gay or lesbian Service member participated in a family support program, would it affect your participation?”
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[T]he survey asks how many informal military social events -- picnics, gatherings and holiday parties -- the spouse has attended in the last year. It then asks if the law were repealed, would the attendance of a gay or lesbian service member with his or her partner affect future attendance?

Other questions ask if the spouse would recommend military service to a family member or close friend if the law were repealed, or if the service member of the spouse would opt not to stay in the military if “Don’t ask, don’t tell” were repealed.
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“The military and their families are ready for the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the low turnouts show that,” said a gay service member who uses the pseudonym J.D. Smith to avoid prosecution and is co-director of Outserve, which represents gay and lesbian military personnel. “We think that we’ll see the exact same thing here [namely, a 28% return rate or less on the surveys].”

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