Poll: Americans Want DADT Repealed, Split On How To Treat Gays In The Military

Some talking head, who I can't remember the name, had a very interesting bead on this. The younger generations find this policy discriminatory and offensive. Many younger people have gay friends and know gays and its no big deal. The ones primarily opposed are the gray heads who don't serve in the military anyway. If they took a poll of people under 65, it would be something like 90% in favor of repeal. You always have that small percentage of loons.

Couple that fact with the fact that the primary demographic the military are going after are 18 to 20 somethings and that explains why the military wants this repealed. That age group is probably in the 95% range of wanting repeal.

DADT is plain silly and should be repealed. I am actually kinda burned out on the discussion of this. Just repeal it already.

Doesn't the military already have rules against public displays of affection for their heterosexual soldiers? How is that different for gays? Equal means equal, tyvm.

53-40 seems like a really slim margin, considering. With feelings that tepid you'd think a number of Republicans would be more afraid of pissing off the independents who back repeal than the base members that oppose it. Definitely seems like those numbers are going to make it very hard for any red state democrat to oppose the repeal.

Also maybe seems like a couple of those rare blue state republicans (Scott Brown?) are looking at possibly damaging themselves if they don't support the repeal.

While I understand the happy poll trumpeting by TPM, this is just a diversion and has zero significance.

This issue has nothing to do with popularity contests and to play it up that way (look! the public likes this!) is to reframe the entire issue from equality and fairness into a PR duel.

That's what plagued the gay rights movement for so long, unfortunately. That's what gave us Prop 8 and ballot initiatives.

TPM should know better than this. We shouldn't be trying to "prettify" a civil rights issue in a constitutional republic like this one.

"restrictions on exhibiting their sexual orientation on the job"

WTF? What, are they going to have a Gay Pride parade through the middle of Ft. Hood? Who would even formulate a question like that, except a homophobe. I doubt the gay people that enlist are going to have the same personalities as RuPaul. It's boggling the way stereotypes overtake reality in the minds of bigots.

When an overwhelming majority of all samples says Mutallab should be tried as an enemy combatant rather than in a criminal setting, we've lost the PR war.

when will we finally learn the lesson that humans are still humans, that the things that bind us together are far more important and meaningful that the things that separate us?

When will we finally honor the interconnected web of life here on planet Earth?

When the conservative ideals of greed and lust for power, when selfishness itself is defeated.

As John Kenneth Galbraith once said, "Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives."

Ok so Republicans and Evangelicals don't want gays in uniform. Fine. They also are the firmest of supporters of Israel. Soooo, have they ever questioned why the IDF makes no exceptions for gays serving? And are they aware that gay spouses are entitled to the same benefits as hetero spouses?
Just asking.