Seventy-three
percent of US military members would accept openly
gay and lesbian service members being in their units,
according to a new poll released by Zogby International
and the Michael D. Palm Center. Over one in five respondents
to the survey said they know for certain that someone
in their unit is gay or lesbian. The survey was conducted
of both combat and non-combat units, according to
a statement issued by the Servicemembers
Legal Defense Network and obtained by PageOneQ.
"Today's
poll is one more nail in the coffin of 'Don't Ask,
Don't Tell,'" said C. Dixon Osburn, executive director
of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, said in the
statement.
The survey
included over 500 troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Forty-five percent of the veterans of those wars indicated
that although they were not certain there was a gay
or lesbian member of their unit, they suspected there
was.
The survey
responses represent a dramatic change from 1993, when
thirteen percent of service members said they supported
the right of gays and lesbians to serve openly in
the military.
A number
of polls conducted in recent years have also indicated
support for the repeal of the ban. In a 2004 Annenberg
poll, a majority of junior enlisted personnel supported
allowing out service members. The same poll found
that 79% of the general public supported repealing
the ban. And, according to SLDN, a poll recently conducted
by the Boston Globe indicated that a majority
of self identified conservatives and church-goers
support repeal of the ban.
Military
leaders such as three-star Lieutenant General Claudia
Kennedy (ret.), the first female to achieve that rank
in the Army, and Lieutenant General Daniel W. Christman,
former superintendent of West Point, both support
repealing the ban.
