Related to the post below: According to a new Washington Post-ABC news poll, 75% say that "homosexuals who do publicly disclose their sexual orientation should be allowed to serve in the military"; while 24% said they should not. Among Democrats, 82% said they should be allowed; 77% for independents; and 64% for Republicans. I'm surprised by, but like, that a majority of Republicans support gay people serving openly in the military. The poll also pointed out that there has been huge gains in support since the Don't Ask, Don't Tell debate first started in 1993 during Bill Clinton's presidency. In May 1993, 44% thought homosexuals who do publicly disclose their sexual orientation should be allowed to serve in the military. That is a 31 point change. Another interesting finding is that among those that say they have a gay friend or family member, 81% supported allowing gay people to serve openly in the military; compared with 66% among those that said they did not know anyone that was gay. (Full Story)
President Obama has vowed to end the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that bars gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military. The Pentagon's top leaders have declared that they also support an end to Don't Ask, Don't Tell. This issue has been making a lot of news recently. A CBS/New York Times poll was recently conducted on how people feel about the policy. What's interesting is that they found that the wording of the question can affect the amount of support. When asked "Do you favor or oppose homosexuals serving in the military?", 59% said they support it (34% strongly favor, 25% somewhat favor) and 29% said they opposed it (10% somewhat oppose, 19% strongly oppose). However, when the wording was changed, and they asked "Do you favor or oppose gay men and lesbians serving in the military?" -- 70% said they support it (51% strongly favor, 19% somewhat favor) and 19% said they opposed it (7% somewhat oppose, 12% strongly oppose).
They then asked a question about serving openly in the military. As with the above questions, a difference was found based on the wording. When asked "Do you favor or oppose homosexuals being allowed to serve openly?", 44% said they favored it and 42% said they opposed it. When asked the same question, but using the term "gay men and lesbians" instead of "homosexuals", 58% said they supported it and 28% said they opposed it. It's sad there is that difference of support between supporting gay men and lesbians serving in the military and supporting them serving openly in the military.
It's interesting that overall the phrase "gay men and lesbians" garners more support than "homosexuals". I wonder why that is. Maybe "homosexuals" seems more technical or cold for people, or its associated with the idea of deviance (as that was the word commonly used in the past -- when there was much less tolerance. And you hear gay rights opponents say stuff like "Those homosexuals are sick.") Maybe "gay men and lesbians" seems more personal for people. Maybe people feel like the term makes this group seem more like actual people, and not just one big, nameless, faceless group of homosexuals. Instead these are individuals; these are daughters and sons, and brothers and sisters, and friends and neighbors. I'm not sure of the reason, but I find that interesting. Seems like an interesting study for a linguist. (Full Story)
No comments:
Post a Comment