Public attitudes about gays in the military have shifted dramatically since President Bill Clinton unveiled what became his administration's "don't ask, don't tell" policy 15 years ago today.
Seventy-five percent of Americans in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll said gay people who are open about their sexual orientation should be allowed to serve in the U.S. military, up from 62 percent in early 2001 and 44 percent in 1993.
Majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents alike now believe it is acceptable for openly gay people to serve in the U.S. armed forces. Shortly after he took office in 1993, Clinton faced strong resistance to his campaign pledge to lift the military's ban on allowing gay people to enlist. At that time, 67 percent of Republicans and 75 percent of conservatives opposed the idea. A majority of independents, 56 percent, and 45 percent of Democrats also opposed changing the policy.
Today, Americans have become more supportive of allowing openly gay men and women to serve in the armed forces. Support from Republicans has doubled over the past 15 years, from 32 to 64 percent. More than eight in 10 Democrats and more than three-quarters of independents now support the idea, as did nearly two-thirds of self-described conservatives.
Changing attitudes on the issue parallel broader swings in public views about homosexuality. In their recent review of 20 years of polling data, the Pew Research Center reported "a major shift away from highly negative attitudes toward gays and support for punitive actions against gays." In the 2007 Pew data, for example, 28 percent said local school boards should have the right to fire teachers known to be gay; that was down sharply from the 51 percent who said so in 1987.
In the new Post-ABC poll, military veterans are less apt than others to say gay people should be allowed in the military. While 71 percent of veterans said gay people who do not declare themselves as such should be allowed to serve, that number drops sharply, to 50 percent, for those who are open about their sexuality. Non-veterans, by contrast, are as likely to support those who "tell" as those who do not.
Fifty-seven percent of white evangelical Protestants now support allowing openly gay service members in the military, compared with 82 percent of white Catholics and 80 percent of those with no declared religious affiliation. Three-quarters of both married and single people support the idea, both significantly higher than in 1993.
Acceptance of Gay People in Military Grows Dramatically

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times are changing.

It's funny.

When the topic is DADT, and surveys show that a large majority of Americans support repealing it, the anti-gay brigade says we shouldn't vote on it, but leave the decision to the people affected, the military.

But when the topic is gay marriage, and surveys show increasing but not (yet) a majority of support for it, the anti-gay brigade says we should vote on it, rather than leaving the decision to the people affected, the gay couples that want to marry.

The best part is, when this blatant hypocrisy is pointed out to them, rather than be mature and admit their anti-gay agenda, they sputter all sorts of silliness about how the two types of gay discrimination are completely different.

It would be hilarious if it weren't so very sad.

No they don't sputter that.

The marriage and military are different. The military has rules procedures and requirements that don't apply to the civilian life. While marriage is a social custom. Asking "the general public" about what to do with the military is ignorant.

Not really. Any logical thinking human can see that same-gendered unions are no "marriage' of two humans. It's just a hormonally induced delusion. Just like the other sexual deviant unions.


That was a military decision effecting national security. Not the other way around.

Quote:

The fact is, we the people have a far bigger stake in what goes on in the military than whether or not 2 boys get married....but typically, the right wing zealots get all ramped up over bullshit instead of something that is real.

Not really. "We the people" depend on the military to be a efficient proficient fighting force. And if allowing people to openly practice a sexually deviant proclivity would effect our all-volunteer military, it should be up to our military to decide whether that is a fact. And at this point, the members of the military have said they would rather not serve with openly gay members.