“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Survey Results (Active Duty)
| 1. What is your sexual orientation? | ||||
| Straight/Heterosexual | 95% | |||
| Gay/Homosexual | 1.3% | |||
| Bisexual | 0.8% | |||
| Not sure | 0.1% | |||
| Decline to answer | 2.8% | |||
| Other | 0.1% | |||
| 2. Has a service member of the same gender ever made a romantic or sexual advance toward you? | ||||
| Yes | 11.8% | |||
| No | 82.6% | |||
| Unsure | 4.7% | |||
| Decline to answer | 0.9% | |||
| 3. What was your reaction to that advance, or to most advances, if there have been multiple advances? (Question No. 3 was asked only of those who answered "Yes" to the previous question.) | ||||
| It was no big deal | 43.4% | |||
| It bothered me a little | 28.2% | |||
| It was very upsetting | 28.5% | |||
| 4. Do you think there are gay men or women in your current unit? (By unit, we mean Air Force squadron, Army company or detachment, Marine company or battery, or Navy department.) | ||||
| Yes | 57.4% | |||
| No | 16.5% | |||
| Unsure | 25.5% | |||
| Decline to answer | 0.6% | |||
| 5. Why do you think so? (Question No. 5 was asked only of those who answered "Yes" to the previous question.) | ||||
| The individual told me | 13.4% | |||
| The individual made a romantic or sexual advance toward me | 0.6% | |||
| Somebody else told me | 11.8% | |||
| I could tell by the person's speech, behavior or appearance | 50.3% | |||
| I observed the person being romantic with someone of the same sex | 5.2% | |||
| I observed the person attending a gay club, bar, parade or political activity | 1% | |||
| Other | 17.7% | |||
| 6. Did you report this service member's sexual orientation to your chain of command? (Question No. 6 was asked only of those who answered "Yes" to Question No. 4.) | ||||
| Yes | 2.4% | |||
| No | 89.5% | |||
| Decline to answer | 8% | |||
| 7. Why didn't you report it? (Question No. 7 was only asked of those who answered "No" to the previous question.) | ||||
| My chain of command already knew | 9.1% | |||
| It's not my job to report it | 17.2% | |||
| I didn't think my chain of command would do anything about it | 9.7% | |||
| I don't agree with the law excluding gays from the military | 31.1% | |||
| That person was already leaving the military | 3.9% | |||
| My unit really needs the person and I didn't want him or her to be removed | 9.5% | |||
| Other | 39.9% | |||
| 8. To your knowledge, did your chain of command take any action in response, such as initiate an investigation of that person‘s sexual orientation? (Question No. 8 was only asked of those who answered "Yes" or "Decline to answer" to Question No. 6.) | ||||
| Yes | 9.9% | |||
| No | 25.4% | |||
| Unsure | 32% | |||
| Decline to answer | 32.6% | |||
| 9. To your knowledge, was that person ever discharged or is that person currently being discharged because of his or her sexual orientation? (Question No. 9 was only asked of those who answered "Yes" or "Decline to answer to Question No. 6.) | ||||
| Yes | 8.8% | |||
| No | 44.5% | |||
| Unsure | 21.4% | |||
| Decline to answer | 25.3% | |||
| 10. To your knowledge, did your chain of command ever find out that a service member was gay but decline to take any action? | ||||
| Yes | 11.3% | |||
| No | 48.8% | |||
| Unsure | 33.4% | |||
| Not applicable | 4.9% | |||
| Decline to answer | 1.6% | |||
| 11. All in all, do you strongly favor, favor, oppose, or strongly oppose allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military? | ||||
| Strongly favor | 14.5% | |||
| Favor | 15% | |||
| Neutral | 18.7% | |||
| Oppose | 14.2% | |||
| Strongly oppose | 36.8% | |||
| Decline to answer | 0.8% | |||
| 12. Who do you think should be responsible for deciding whether the policy should be changed or kept in place? | ||||
| Military leaders | 55.7% | |||
| Congress | 14.6% | |||
| The President | 14.8% | |||
| The Supreme Court | 5.7% | |||
| Other | 9.2% | |||
| 13. Do you think that sexual orientation is an individual's choice, determined by his or her genes, or some combination of both? | ||||
| An individual's choice | 39.8% | |||
| Determined by genes | 11.3% | |||
| A combination of both | 46.1% | |||
| Decline to answer | 2.7% | |||
| 14. How effective is the "don't ask, don't tell" policy at the following: | ||||
| Effective | Ineffective | Neutral/Decline to answer | ||
| Maintaining order and discipline | 53.7% | 20.5% | 25.8% | |
| Maintaining unit cohesion and morale | 52.6% | 21.9% | 25.6% | |
| Maintaining force readiness | 47.6% | 24.2% | 28.4% | |
| Recruiting and retaining military personnel | 42.2% | 30.7% | 27.2% | |
| Reducing harassment against gay personnel | 44.4% | 30.5% | 25.1% | |
| Reducing violence and hate crimes against gay personnel | 43.6% | 28.0% | 28.4% | |
| Reducing fraternization among gay personnel | 36.5% | 30.2% | 33.4% | |
| Keeping gays from making romantic or sexual advances toward straights | 49.8% | 19.2% | 31.1% | |
| Reducing the risk of sexually-transmitted diseases | 22.1% | 34.5% | 43.5% | |
| Upholding moral values | 36.4% | 32.6% | 30.9% | |
| Ensuring privacy in shared living facilities | 40.3% | 29.4% | 30.2% | |
| 15. If the policy were overturned, how comfortable would you be sharing the following living facilities with an openly gay service member of the same gender? (Question No. 15 was only asked of Army and Marine Corps respondents.) | ||||
| View | Comfortable | Uncomfortable | Neutral/Decline to answer | |
| The bunk above or below yours | 34.1% | 51.8% | 14.1% | |
| Barracks room | 34.9% | 51.5% | 13.7% | |
| Barracks building | 46.9% | 32.3% | 20.7% | |
| On-post family housing area | 49.9% | 28.4% | 21.8% | |
| Gym, swimming pool or recreational facility | 48.6% | 31.2% | 20.3% | |
| Shower | 30.3% | 57.6% | 12.1% | |
| Toilet | 38.5% | 44.4% | 17.1% | |
| Containerized Housing Unit (CHU) or large tent | 37.6% | 47.2% | 15.2% | |
| Small tent or combat outpost | 35.6% | 49.7% | 14.8% | |
| 16. If the policy were overturned, how comfortable would you be sharing the following living facilities with an openly gay service member of the same gender? (Question No. 16 was only asked of Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard respondents.) | ||||
| View | Comfortable | Uncomfortable | Neutral/Decline to answer | |
| The rack above or below yours | 37.3% | 49.1% | 13.7% | |
| Berthing space | 38.8% | 46.6% | 14.7% | |
| Elsewhere on a ship | 47.3% | 29.9% | 23.0% | |
| Barracks ashore | 44.1% | 39.2% | 16.7% | |
| On-post family housing area | 48.6% | 29.1% | 22.3% | |
| Gym, swimming pool or recreational facility | 48.1% | 30.4% | 21.5% | |
| Shower | 32.6% | 54.5% | 12.8% | |
| Toilet | 39.5% | 43.1% | 17.4% | |
| Containerized housing unit (CHU) or large tent | 39.7% | 43.2% | 17.1% | |
| Small tent or combat outpost | 37.9% | 46.7% | 15.5% | |
| 17. If the policy were overturned, should married homosexual couples receive the same pay, benefits and entitlements as married heterosexual couples? | ||||
| Yes | 39.6% | |||
| No | 43.1% | |||
| Undecided | 14% | |||
| Decline to answer | 3.4% | |||
| 18. If the policy were overturned, should homosexual couples who would like to marry legally but cannot be allowed to register as domestic partners and receive the same pay, benefits and entitlements as married heterosexual couples? (Question No. 18 was asked only of those who answered "Yes" to the previous question.) | ||||
| Yes | 62.4% | |||
| No | 26.7% | |||
| Undecided | 10% | |||
| Decline to answer | 0.8% | |||
| 19. If the policy were overturned, are there certain jobs or units that gay men and women should be barred from, like special operations, drill instructor or submariner? | ||||
| Yes | 45.8% | |||
| No | 41% | |||
| Undecided | 11.2% | |||
| Decline to answer | 2% | |||
| 20. Finally, if the policy were overturned, what would be the three most challenging issues facing the military? (Select three) | ||||
| Maintaining order and discipline | 28.1% | |||
| Maintaining unit cohesion and morale | 33.3% | |||
| Maintaining force readiness | 5.5% | |||
| Recruiting and retaining military personnel | 12.8% | |||
| Reducing harassment against openly gay personnel | 51.3% | |||
| Reducing violence and hate crimes against gay personnel | 37.5% | |||
| Reducing fraternization among gay personnel | 10.2% | |||
| Keeping gays from making romantic or sexual advances toward straights | 9.3% | |||
| Reducing the risk of sexually-transmitted diseases | 3.3% | |||
| Upholding moral values | 20.5% | |||
| Deciding how to assign people to shared living facilities | 35.6% | |||
| Ensuring privacy in shared living facilities | 20.7% | |||
| Ensuring equality in financial and health benefits | 14.9% | |||
| Establishing a fair and reasonable job assignment policy | 12% | |||
| Other | 5% | |||
