WASHINGTON, July 10 (UPI) -- Gay rights activists say a survey asking U.S. troops' views on ending the ban on homosexuals openly serving in the military is insulting and biased.
Servicemembers United, the nation's largest group of gay and lesbian troops and veterans, told The Washington Post the survey includes "derogatory and insulting wording, assumptions and insinuations."
"The Defense Department just shot itself in the foot by releasing such a flawed survey to 400,000 service members, and it did so at an outrageous cost to taxpayers," said Alexander Nicholson, the group's executive director.
Nicholson and other critics said the wording of the survey would reinforce prejudice and heighten anxiety among troops about being forced to bathe, room or socialize with gays and lesbians.
The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a non-partisan group that counsels troops discharged under the don't ask policy, said results would not be representative for the survey, unlike any in recent memory.
"Surveying the troops is unprecedented; it did not happen in 1948 when President Truman ended segregation, and it did not happen in 1976 when the service academies opened to women," SLDN Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis said. "Even when the military placed women on ships at sea, the Pentagon did not turn to a survey on how to bring about that cultural change."
Geoff Morrell, the Defense Department spokesman, said the Pentagon was "discouraged" the survey had been leaked. He complained of "inflammatory" news coverage he said could discourage troops from participating in the survey or affect their answers.
"We need this survey and we need people to participate in this survey to get a sense of the attitudes of the force," he said.
Responding to critics' claims the survey was biased against gays, Morrell said, "Absolutely, unequivocally, I reject it as nonsense."
He said it would be "irresponsible" not to ask troops about possible privacy concerns about sharing living quarters and showers with gays at a time when President Barack Obama wants to end the policy, which dates to 1993.
