A year after the military ended its ban
on openly gay troops, the fears of opponents have proved largely
unfounded.
“Don't Ask, Don't Tell,” the policy
which for 18 years banned gay and bisexual troops from serving
openly, officially came to an end on September 20, 2011, 9 months
after President Barack Obama signed a repeal bill into law.
Since then, we've seen first kisses as
troops return home from deployments, service members marching in Gay
Pride parades and the Pentagon honoring LGBT troops.
But the gloomy predictions of opponents
have not come to pass.
Repeal of “Don't Ask, Don't Tell”
has had “[N]o overall negative impact on military readiness or its
component dimensions, including cohesion, recruitment, retention,
assaults, harassment or morale,” a study of the repeal's impact
released Monday concluded.
The study was conducted by the Palm
Center, a think tank at the University of California at Santa
Barbara. Its research team includes professors at West Point, the
Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy and the Marine Corps War
College.
The study's authors did report that a
small minority of service members are unhappy with the new policy.
Credit for the smooth transition is
given to the Pentagon's “carefully designed implementation and
training process.”
(Related: Barbara
Walters to host DADT repeal anniversary event honoring Mike Mullen.)