Very interesting military poll from Zogby: Don't Ask Don't Tell don't work

Thanks to AMERICAblog for the link (and the title, though it was so easy I used it too). Zogby reports:

Nearly one in four U.S. troops (23%) say they know for sure that someone in their unit is gay or lesbian, and of those 59% said they learned about the person's sexual orientation directly from the individual, a Zogby International poll of troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan shows.

More than half (55%) of the troops who know a gay peer said the presence of gays or lesbians in their unit is well known by others. According to the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, service members are not allowed to say that they are gay.

These findings come amidst significant changes in the military and political landscape. This week, Robert M. Gates took over as the U.S. Secretary of Defense, and next month, Democrats will take control of the Congress. Some observers expect the new climate to prompt intense examination of all aspects of military policy including potential reinstitution of the draft, which is advocated by some in the new majority's leadership.

According Congressman Marty Meehan (D-MA), "These new data prove that thousands of gay and lesbian service members are already deployed overseas and are integrated, important members of their units. It is long past time to strike down 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' and create a new policy that allows gays and lesbians to serve openly."

First, I'd like to say that while 23 percent is high, the true percentage of active duty military that know of somebody in their unit who is gay is likely even higher, due to response bias--i.e. people don't want to say they know a gay person out of fear or even embarrasment.

But regardless, clearly this policy is a failure even if it is a just one (which it is not). A quarter of the people saying they know somebody who is a mo or a lesbo? Sounds like lots of people are asking and/or telling; and when people are hearing they're not *telling* on their comrades to superiors.

Time to end this inane policy and join the rest of the industrialized Western democracies--let gays serve openly and with the pride that they deserve at a most fundamental, indivisible level. It sickens me to think about conservatives and "conservatives" who cast out a group of people who are gay who also happen to be fighting the very war that the conservatives are vowing to continue.