Poll: Iraq and Afghanistan Vets Accept Gay Soldiers

[Emit]

Poll: Iraq and Afghanistan Vets Accept Gay Soldiers
Posted on: March 22, 2010 9:16 AM, by Ed Brayton

A new survey of returning Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans by the Vet Voice Foundation finds that an overwhelming majority of them would accept serving beside gay soldiers and don't think being gay has anything to do with being a good soldier.

An overwhelming majority of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans say it is personally acceptable to them if gay and lesbian people were allowed to serve openly in the military. Seven in ten (73%) say it is acceptable, including 42% who say it would be acceptable and 31% who would find it acceptable even though they would not like it. Only a quarter (25%) would find it unacceptable. Generational differences exist here as well, but they are not as dramatic as conventional wisdom might indicate. Forty-seven percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans under age 35 find it acceptable and would like the policy change and another 30% find it acceptable and do not like it, for a total of 77% who find it personally acceptable if gay and lesbian people were allowed to serve openly in the military. Seventy percent of veterans over age 35 would find it acceptable and only a quarter would find it unacceptable (26%).

~snip~

Seems like the chickenhawk bigots are the only ones still stuck in the bronze age.

http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2010/03/poll_iraq_and_afghanistan_vets.php#more