The American Army Comes Out

Don’t ask Don’t Tell (DADT), an anti-gay Berlin Wall in the U.S. Army, is, no doubt, in its final phase. The Pentagon, dragging its feet, will present on Dec. 1 the results of its study of U.S. troops in July. NBC did not wait. The Army is ready. Good timing for the Democrats at the midterm elections?

The U.S. Department of Defense does not favor integrating “openly gay” soldiers into the Army. Neither do Republicans, and John McCain has dispelled any lingering doubts that lurked around him. Since the beginning of DADT, it is estimated that 13,000 army soldiers have had to leave the Army as a result of the policy. As a candidate, Obama made them a campaign promise in 2008. Since then, gays in the Army are frustrated by the fact that a federal repeal hasn’t yet happened.

To buy time while practicing internal democracy, the Department of Defense conducted a huge study in July of 4,000 soldiers (half active and half reserve) and 1,500 family members to ask their opinions.

The self-administered 32-page, 103-question study should have allowed the military to find problem areas, if there were any. Theoretically, the questionnaire took 30 minutes (unclear with over 100 questions in a half hour) and should have been returned by August 15. Anonymity was the rule. The Army is not what it was: Only one-quarter of the military responded. 1,100 responses is significant and forms a large sample, but …

NBC News, which has had the results for over a month, has made very few comments; the Army even less so. But they did not deny that the responses would support a repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and therefore, a majority of unknown magnitude was, in fact, for integration. Phew! Gays will vote straight on Tuesday.

Yet the questions did not hesitate to push the envelope further: “Have you been assigned to share bath facilities with an open bay shower that is also used by a Service member you believed to be homosexual?”

“Did that embarrass you?”*

Or, “Have you shared a room with …” and “If […] you had on-base housing and a gay or lesbian Service member was living with a same-sex partner on-base, what would you most likely do?” This would mean that apart from radical anti-gay Army (who are certainly entitled), the evolution of the Army and society is headed in the same direction. Phew! Gays will vote straight on Tuesday.

*Editor’s note: The above quote, accurately translated, could not be verified.