Today: Will we be able to ask, tell, and serve openly?

photo by Frankphotos

With support from the general public coming in at 75% as the background, today the House Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing on having queer members of our military be able to serve openly. This is the first hearing since Don't Ask, Don't Tell was enacted in 1993. Even among conservatives, religious and veterans, support has grown tremendously:

A new Washington Post/ABC poll this week found that 50% of veterans agree that gays should serve openly, up dramatically from a 2007 Zogby poll in which 28% agreed, and a 1993 poll done by military sociologist Charlie Moskos in which only 13% of service members agreed that gays should serve openly.

The Post/ABC poll also found that 75% of the general public supports gays serving openly, including significant majorities of conservatives, evangelicals and Catholics, up from 44% of the general public in 1993.

This is great news--especially if our government decides in favor of being progressive. It does nothing to serve our country when some of the most qualified service members, even some of the best and only Arabic translators (just as an example for some of what's needed now) are discharged because someone discovered they weren't straight. And this is also a time when the military is relaxing many other restrictions that used to prevent someone from enlisting: tattoos, disabilities, low-performance on entrance tests. The military is definitely hurting for recruits, let a lone highly qualified servicemen and women who happen to be gay.

Are any readers of The Fruit members of our Armed Forces? Thoughts? Comments? Are there any jobs where being queer might affect your job performance negatively?