Cherokee_Mountaincat
Jul 9, 2010, 1:07 AM
Gay rights group warns soldiers not to cooperate with Pentagon Don't Ask, Don't Tell study. :rolleyes:
Gays in the military who participate in a new survey about repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" could be discharged for outing themselves, a legal advocacy group has warned. The Pentagon denies that survey respondents would run any such risk.
The survey, which Pentagon researchers are planning to send to 200,000 active duty and 200,000 reserve servicemen and women via email, asks soldiers if and how letting gays serve openly in the military will affect morale, according to CNN, which obtained a leaked version of the document.
The survey contains more than 100 questions. Among the queries it poses:
-Would a repeal of "Don't ask, don't tell" prompt a soldier to reconsider serving in the military?
-Would serving under an openly gay commander adversely affect morale?
-How would troops feel about sharing a bathroom or open-air shower with an openly gay comrade in a war zone?
In a statement, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, an advocacy group dedicated to repealing the Don't Ask, Don't Tell ban, recommends that gay and lesbian service members refrain from offering replies.
"While the surveys are apparently designed to protect the individual’s privacy, there is no guarantee of privacy and [The Department of Defense] has not agreed to provide immunity to service members whose privacy may be inadvertently violated or who inadvertently outs himself or herself," the group's executive director Aubrey Sarvis says. "If a service member still wishes to participate, he or she should only do so in a manner that does not reveal sexual orientation.”
But the Pentagon told the Associated Press that identifying data will be stripped from the surveys by a third party, and that the survey doesn't ask the respondent to reveal his or her sexual orientation. "They cannot be outed," Cynthia Smith, a Pentagon spokeswoman told the AP.
In May, the House of Representatives voted to end Don't Ask, Don't Tell pending the military's completion of its internal policy review of the ban. If the Senate approves the measure this summer, the ban may be retired as early as next year, according to The Washington Post.
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Gays in the military who participate in a new survey about repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" could be discharged for outing themselves, a legal advocacy group has warned. The Pentagon denies that survey respondents would run any such risk.
The survey, which Pentagon researchers are planning to send to 200,000 active duty and 200,000 reserve servicemen and women via email, asks soldiers if and how letting gays serve openly in the military will affect morale, according to CNN, which obtained a leaked version of the document.
The survey contains more than 100 questions. Among the queries it poses:
-Would a repeal of "Don't ask, don't tell" prompt a soldier to reconsider serving in the military?
-Would serving under an openly gay commander adversely affect morale?
-How would troops feel about sharing a bathroom or open-air shower with an openly gay comrade in a war zone?
In a statement, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, an advocacy group dedicated to repealing the Don't Ask, Don't Tell ban, recommends that gay and lesbian service members refrain from offering replies.
"While the surveys are apparently designed to protect the individual’s privacy, there is no guarantee of privacy and [The Department of Defense] has not agreed to provide immunity to service members whose privacy may be inadvertently violated or who inadvertently outs himself or herself," the group's executive director Aubrey Sarvis says. "If a service member still wishes to participate, he or she should only do so in a manner that does not reveal sexual orientation.”
But the Pentagon told the Associated Press that identifying data will be stripped from the surveys by a third party, and that the survey doesn't ask the respondent to reveal his or her sexual orientation. "They cannot be outed," Cynthia Smith, a Pentagon spokeswoman told the AP.
In May, the House of Representatives voted to end Don't Ask, Don't Tell pending the military's completion of its internal policy review of the ban. If the Senate approves the measure this summer, the ban may be retired as early as next year, according to The Washington Post.
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