Time to Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

I was taking advantage of some downtime from playing Army today, and checked out the AJC site to see what was happening back home. I came across a blog post from Jim Galloway highlighting the state of the current debate over the military’s ban on openly gay soldiers, or the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

For those who don’t know I’ve served in the Infantry for twelve years with three combat tours and I’ve seen it all. I’ve jumped out of airplanes, blew stuff up, shot big guns, and generally put foot to ass for the country that I love, warts and all.  And, to be honest, I didn’t think that having openly gay soldiers serving alongside heterosexual soldiers was a good idea, not even a little bit. My own personal belief was that it would hurt unit cohesion, and when kicking down doors you MUST be able to trust the people around you. If you have family you wouldn’t trust with a potato gun… you know what I’m talking about.

Here is where my own skeptical beliefs cut in. Close friends know that I’m a skeptic and I’m always fond of saying, “I’m totally evidence-based” so I decided to do the research around this belief.  And I can honestly say that my own personally-held beliefs were wrong. There is no evidence to support the premise that homosexuals in a unit would hurt unit cohesion or impact mission performance.  Examining some of the claims, I found that many studies have been done that support lifting of the ban; police and fire departments have lifted their bans and have found no impact on mission performance. In addition, a review of NATO countries found that countries that lifted their ban on openly gay soldiers hasn’t impacted performance at all.

I cannot lie; my initial reaction was one of shock and surprise. I felt sure that there would have been some evidence supporting the premise that openly gay men and women serving in the military would lead to disaster. It is, after all, a premise that I’ve been operating on for the twelve years I’ve been associated with the military. Would I have a problem serving with an openly gay man/woman? I don’t think so; my objections for homosexuals serving was based purely on faulty reason, and once I discovered this I changed my world view.

Now it’s time to put your money where your mouth is because it’s easy to be skeptical when talking about Bigfoot, UFOs, or homeopathy it’s much more difficult when it comes to our own personally held beliefs. Skepticism to me is more than just debunking psychic’s claims and trashing Jenny McCarthy, it’s a way of life. If we as skeptics do not hold ourselves to our own evidence based standards, what have we become?

The word hypocrite comes to mind.

Recently I was pleased to discover that Washington is taking this issue seriously and is working to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, to this I can only say what I’ve always said, “I’m totally evidence-based” if this is where the evidence leads than that is the only thing that  is important.

Some background info:
GAO Study on gays serving

Oral Statement of Gregory M. Herek, Ph.D to the House Armed Services Committee: