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Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Supporting our troops
Yet another interesting study via OpenCRS. This is on homosexuals in the military. Surprisingly (to me: maybe I'm woefully uninformed again), military discharges increased after the 1993 "Don't ask; don't tell" policy. There were 682 discharges for homosexuality in 1993 and 1,212 by 2000. Discharges peaked in 2001 at 1,227 (89 discharges per 100,000 soldiers), the highest rate since 1982 (95 discharges per 100,000 active force soldiers). Since 2001, discharges have fallen by almost 50%, to 653 soldiers, or 46 per 100,000.
Two possible conclusions here. First, most of the gays have been driven out of the military already. Second, we'll accept gays in the military -- but only when there's a war going on.
I suspect the latter. With recruiting difficulties and casualties, the army can't afford to discharge homosexuals for being homosexuals, so long as they do their duty. This would be, of course, directly contrary to all predictions that the military couldn't go to war with homosexuals in the ranks. On the other hand, it would be consistent with allies like Great Britain and Australia. Australia has allowed gays in the military since 1992 "seemingly without problems". England has allowed homosexuals to serve since January, 2000 with "no adverse effects on the operational effectiveness of the forces." (See page 34 of the CRS.)
