Pentagon Releases Troop Survey on DADT Policy Change

Servicemembers United Encourages Gay, Lesbian Troop Participation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

07/08/2010

Contact

Clint King - Ofc.: 202.349.3803 | Cell: 202.834.7659 | cking@servicemembersunited.org

Alex Nicholson - Ofc.: 202.349.1126 | Cell: 202.531.4839 | anicholson@servicemembersunited.org

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Servicemembers United, the nation's largest organization of gay and lesbian troops and veterans, issued a statement today regarding the Pentagon's release of a survey of 400,000 troops on the impending repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law.

"As part of its mandate from the Secretary of Defense to 'engage the force' on the likely repeal of the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' law, the Pentagon's Comprehensive Review Working Group yesterday released a survey on the issue to 400,000 non-deployed active duty troops," said Alexander Nicholson, Executive Director of Servicemembers United and a former U.S. Army interrogator who was discharged under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." "While Servicemembers United remains concerned about unintentional bias in the question wording within this survey, we are satisfied that sufficient measures are in place to protect the confidentiality of any gay and lesbian servicemember who would like to fully and honestly participate in this survey."

Nicholson added, "Servicemembers United encourages all gay and lesbian active duty troops who received the survey to take this important opportunity to provide their views. We especially encourage gay and lesbian troops to take advantage the opportunity at the end of the survey to participate in a confidential chat about issues related to being gay or lesbian in the U.S. military."

The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law, passed in 1993 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994, has resulted in the abrupt firing of more than 14,000 men and women because of their sexual orientation, and has led tens of thousands more to voluntarily terminate their careers because of the burden of serving under this outdated law. There are an estimated 66,000 gays, lesbians, and bisexuals currently serving in the U.S. military and an estimated 1 million gay, lesbian, and bisexual veterans of the U.S. armed forces.

For more information about Servicemembers United, please visit www.servicemembersunited.org. For the latest information on discharge numbers, polling, statistics, studies, and other archival and reference information related to the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' issue, please visit www.dadtarchive.org.

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Servicemembers United, a non-profit and non-partisan organization, is the nation's largest organization of gay and lesbian troops and veterans and their allies. Based in Washington, DC, Servicemembers United actively engages in education, advocacy, and lobbying on issues affecting the gay military, veteran, and defense community.