The Pentagon Insultingly Asks Soldiers How They Would React to Icky Gay People
Advocacy group Servicemembers United got a hold of a survey the Pentagon circulated to 400,000 troops which asks obnoxious questions about how soldiers would react if they had to shower or share a tent with a gay person.
Even though President Obama has appears ready to repeal the policy that prevents gay military personnel from serving openly, the survey repeatedly asks "If Don't Ask, Don't Tell is repealed." Here's a sample question about how soldiers would react if they had to share a shower with a gay member of the same sex.
There are practically identical questions about sharing quarters, socializing, and just having to be next to the gays. You can read the entire survey here.
Servicemembers United takes umbrage with how the questions are phrased and that they're being asked at all. "[The survey] stokes the fires of homophobia by its very design and will only make the Pentagon's responsibility to subdue homophobia as part of this inevitable policy change even harder," says executive director Alexander Nicholson. Also phrasing the questions about "if" it happens misleads the soldiers into thinking that somehow their horrible answers on this survey will keep the pesky gays out of their barracks. Here's a news flash, Pentagon: The gays are coming. Better get that cootie spray ready.
