A Pentagon study issued on Tuesday said ending a ban on gay soldiers serving openly would create no serious problem for the US military, as the White House pressed for repealing the law.
The long-awaited report said that a “solid majority” of troops expressed no objection to the change, though members of combat units had more misgivings.
The study, which the White House hopes will pave the way for Congress to lift the ban, concluded the risk “to overall military effectiveness is low” if the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law is repealed.
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“We are both convinced that our military can do this, even during this time of war,” wrote the report’s authors, General Carter Ham, and the Pentagon’s top legal adviser, Jeh Johnson.
impact
The report, which surveyed 400,000 active-duty and reserve troops and 150,000 military spouses, found that 70 percent of respondents said the impact of ending the ban would be “positive, mixed, or non-existent.”
The 1993 law requires gay troops to keep their sexual orientation quiet or face discharge from the military.
The report found a minority of 30 percent in the military expected a negative effect from lifting the ban, with resistance running higher among the US Marine Corps.
Troops in mostly all-male combat units mainly in the Army and Marines also expressed more worries over ending the ban, with roughly 40 percent to 60 percent expecting a negative effect, the report said.
ambivalent
US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates acknowledged that the chiefs of the armed services were “less sanguine” about lifting the ban because of the more ambivalent views of combat forces.
However, Gates told reporters he did not believe the attitudes of combat troops would “present an insurmountable barrier,” though he added that an “abundance of care” would be required to ensure a smooth transition.
US President Barack Obama and his allies in Congress hope the study will bolster a push for action on the issue during a year-end “lame duck” session, before the Democrats’ Senate majority shrinks and Republicans take over as the majority party in the House of Representatives next month.
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