WASHINGTON, March 22 (UPI) -- A poll of 1,000 California adults released Wednesday shows 67 percent would support allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the military.
Current law allows homosexuals to join the military, but they may not discuss or act on their sexual orientation, a law known as "Don't Ask, Don't tell." "Don't ask, Don't Tell" was enacted in 1994 by Congress after President Bill Clinton failed to persuade the Pentagon to accept lifting the outright ban on gay service.
The Field Poll, a non-partisan California polling company, polled 1,000 adults, including 680 registered voters, between Feb. 12 and Feb. 26.
In September 2005 the California State Assembly passed a resolution supporting a bill in Congress that would allow homosexuals to serve openly. The bill is sponsored by Massachusetts Democrat Marty Meehan and has 110 co-sponsors, including four Republicans.
In six national polls taken during the last two years, a majority of respondents favored homosexuals being allowed to serve openly in the U.S. military, according to the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California-Santa Barbara.
"All polls found that between 58 and 79 percent of the public believes that gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly. For example, Fox News found in August 2003 that 64 percent of the public, including 55 percent of Republicans, believe that gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly," according to CSSMM.
Members of the military still generally support the ban, although that number is declining. An Annenberg poll conducted in 2004 showed half of the junior enlisted corps of the military support homosexuals being allowed to serve openly.
More than 10,000 people have been separated from the military under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law in the last decade, including those with critical skills like Arabic language, military policing and health care.
