DEFENDING FREEDOM

Insights and Evidence

In the last Gallop poll (July 2007), 46 percent of Americans supported allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. More recently, a Quinnipiac poll (April 2009) suggests that 56 percent of American voters now favor the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' including 50 percent among voters with family in the military.

The central rationale for the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tel' policy on gays in the military is that allowing openly gay personnel to serve will undermine unit cohesion in our Armed Forces. In an article recently published in the official Pentagon journal, Joint Forces Quarterly, Colonel Om Prakash argues that there exists "no scientific evidence to support the claim that unit cohesion will be negatively affected if homosexuals serve openly.” The article is especially significant, for it is among the first to express public criticism by active duty personnel of the gay ban.

In his article, entitled, "The Efficacy of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,'" Colonel Om Prakash alludes to a long list of military and government research which shows that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly will not compromise military readiness. Further, he calls attention to the other countries such as Great Britain, Australia, and Canada who have already allowed gays and lesbians to openly serve. In every case, there was no impact on military performance, readiness, cohesion, or ability to recruit or retain, nor did it increase the HIV rate among troops. In addition, Prakash suggests that the 2006 Zogby poll further supports this data; the poll found that 45 percent of current Servicemembers already suspect they are serving with a homosexual in their unit, and of those, 23 percent are certain they are serving with a homosexual.

Finally, Prakash concludes his article by calling upon the current Administration to implement the repeal of the current law.

Read Col. Om Prakash's full article at the Palm Center.

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