FRC to Congress: Beware of Pentagon's Biased Survey on Homosexuality in the Military

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Nov 05, 2010, 01:32 ET

WASHINGTON, Nov. 5, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Family Research Council today released an analysis of the military's survey regarding the effects of allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the Armed Forces showing that the military's survey is deeply flawed, according to FRC President and Marine Corps veteran Tony Perkins.

FRC found that the military member survey ignores important questions and fails to ask the central question of whether the current ban on open homosexuality should be overturned. It also fails to ask whether or not the respondent is a homosexual.

Of the survey Perkins said:

"Leading questions about a pre-determined result can hardly be called fair or scientific, which means Congress should greet this survey with a heavy dose of skepticism," said Perkins. "When only one-in-four service personnel even return the survey, this tells you something about the disregard most of those serving had for it.

"Members of both chambers should insist on receiving detailed results from the surveys, and should carefully scrutinize the methodology the Pentagon used to collect information. Any analysis based on unscientific or biased questioning should be thrown out.

"Removing the ban on open homosexuality in the Armed Forces would have a drastic impact on unit retention, morale and readiness. Our analysis shows that the President and the Pentagon have ignored the true opinions of service members, instead paying lip service to the President's pledge to conduct a study whose results were, on the basis of the kinds of questions asked and those avoided, never seriously in doubt.

"So, the survey's results must be analyzed by Congress to ensure they are accurate portrayals of what our men and women in uniform truly believe about the effects of open homosexuality in the U.S. military. In fact, Congress should consider conducting its own survey and, as Members did in 1993 when President Clinton sought to allow homosexuality in the Armed Forces, go into the field and ask those serving for input," Perkins said.

Read the report online here: http://www.frc.org/infocus/congress-should-be-skeptical-of-pentagons-biased-and-incomplete-surveys-on-homosexuality-in-the-military

SOURCE Family Research Council