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Responding in the Times

Today's Washington Times includes a response to last week's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" op-ed (by Major Daniel Davis) from two SLDN advisory board members: Retired Colonel Stewart Bornhoft (pictured) and Retired Colonel Andy Leonard. Bornhoft and Leonard question Davis's analysis of a recent Zogby poll about lesbian and gay troops and point out that, indeed, gay Americans are already serving in the armed forces without incident. "Maj. Davis puts a lot of emphasis on the fact that 37 percent of the combat and combat support troops did not favor allowing homosexuals to serve openly, compared to 26 percent who did (with 32 percent being neutral and 5 percent unsure)," they write. "Yet . . . when these numbers are analyzed with respect to the personal knowledge of the existence of homosexual troops in their own unit, there is a significant shift in opinion toward allowing homosexuals to serve openly (unpublished data supplied by the Zogby poll analysts)." "The bottom line is simply this: many homosexual troops are already serving openly in both combat and combat support operations," the Colonels say. "This fact is known by many of their peers. Nearly three-quarters of combat and combat support troops say they are comfortable working with homosexuals and lesbians. Unit cohesion and combat readiness in our military is the best in the republic's history, clearly not diminished by the known presence of homosexual troops. It's time for military leaders to call for an end to the outdated law that prevents capable patriotic Americans from honestly serving their country or, worse, forces the military to discharge much-needed highly trained and experienced personnel. It's long past time to repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.'" You can read the entire response to Major Davis at the Times website, online here. - Steve Ralls

Labels: in the news

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08-20-07