An exhaustive Pentagon report released Tuesday afternoon showed that the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” — the military’s ban on allowing openly gay citizens to serve — would cause few negative effects for the armed forces. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen urged Congress to repeal the policy – a prospect that remains uncertain in the lame-duck session.

The report solicited views of 400,000 active-duty and reserve personnel and received 115,052 responses. Seventy percent said the ability to “work together to get the job done” would not be affected by the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell”; 69 percent said they had served with someone whom they believed to be homosexual.

The report noted that opposition within the military to negative effects of allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly was based on predictions, not actual experience — 92 percent (84 percent in the Marines and 89 percent in the Army) who had served with someone whom they believed to be gay or lesbian said the unit’s “ability to work together” was “very good,” “good,” or “neither good nor poor.”

In March, Gates commissioned the survey, which is 267 pages long and details the servicemember feedback, experience of other militaries and the history of the Army. The Department of Defense also released a 95-page report on recommendations for implementation, stressing leadership, professionalism and respect.

At a press conference in the Pentagon this afternoon, Gates and Mullen urged Congress to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell.” “A policy that requires people to lie about themselves somehow seems to me fundamentally flawed,” said Secretary Gates.

While the House of Representatives has already passed a bill repealing the policy, Gates said that for the Senate to act was “a matter of some urgency.” Admiral Mullen echoed the sentiment, calling on the Senate to repeal the policy “precipitously.” Both Gates and Mullen opposed a repeal of the policy through the courts, saying that the uncertainty would be confusing, distracting and ultimately damaging. “Those who choose not to act legislatively are rolling the dice that the courts won’t repeal this,” said Gates.

It remains an open question whether the votes are in the Senate to pass a repeal of the policy; the vote would be part of the pending defense authorization bill. Servicemembers Legal Defense Network Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis said on a conference call with reporters, “The report will be one of the best tools in the lame-duck session to advance repeal.”

However, the repeal of the policy failed in the Senate in September by a 56-43 vote, with no Republicans voting yes and two Arkansas Democrats Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor voting no. Democrats will need sixty votes to achieve closure. Some Republicans who may vote for the measure now that the report has been released include Susan Collins (R-Maine), John Ensign (R-Nev., Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). Others possibilities include Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Scott Brown (R-Mass.) and George Voinovich (R-Ohio). 

Sarvis conceded that repeal would become more difficult after the lame-duck session, as Democrats will have a 53-47 majority as opposed to a 58-42 majority now.

Though the repeal of policy in the Senate could well flounder, the report is the most thorough evidence to date that most in the military already serve with gays and lesbians and approve of a potential policy change. As one marine said in a focus group, “We have a gay guy [in the unit]. He’s big, he’s mean, and he kills lots of bad guys. No one cared that he was gay.”

Here is a graph from the executive summary showing possible risks of repeal:

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