Critics challenge ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ report

Critics say that despite the Pentagon’s effort to put a positive face on it, the much-discussed review of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy actually shows that unit cohesion, effectiveness, privacy and religious liberty would be severely harmed if homosexuals were allowed to serve openly in the military.

The report is at the heart of a debate about whether the Senate should pass a bill during the December lame duck session to overturn the 17-year-old policy.

“There was nothing in that report that showed a single benefit to the military in terms of readiness, recruiting, retention,” Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, said at a Dec. 1 news conference sponsored by the Family Research Council.

For instance, 59 percent of Marines who have been in combat and 44 percent of all personnel who have been in combat said having openly homosexuals in a field environment or at sea would have a negative effect on their unit’s “effectiveness at completing its mission.”

Among those in the Marine combat arms and Army combat arms, 57 percent and 47 percent, respectively, said having an openly homosexual person would negatively impact “how service members in your immediate unit work together to get the job done.”

More than a third of Marines (38.1 percent) and nearly a fourth of all personnel (23.7) said they would either leave the military or think about doing so if the policy is reversed, and 40 percent of Marines and 27 percent of all the military said they would be less likely to recommend to a friend or family member that he or she join the military.

Some Christian and conservative groups, including the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ELRC), are asking supporters of the policy to contact their senators and urge that the policy be maintained. The repeal language is part of a broader bill known as the defense authorization bill.

“We remain convinced that repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ is not in the nation’s best interest,” ERLC President Richard Land said in a Dec. 1 e-mail action alert.

Among other findings in the survey:

• 46 percent of personnel who had served with a leader they and others thought was homosexual said the unit’s performance was negatively affected.
• 30 percent of all personnel and 41 percent of Marines said having an openly homosexual person in their unit would negatively affect their unit’s effectiveness “at completing its mission” in an intense combat situation.
• 29 percent of all personnel said they would “take no action” if they were assigned to share, with a homosexual person, bathroom facilities with an open bay shower. Twenty-six percent said they’d use it at a different time than the other person, 18 percent said they’d discuss the situation with a leader to see if there were other options, and 11 percent said they’d discuss the situation with the person they believed was homosexual.

More than 60 chaplains signed a letter to Obama and Gates earlier this year expressing concern that overturning “don’t ask, don’t tell” would result in the marginalizing of “deeply held” religious beliefs.  (Baptist Press)