GROUP WARNS OF PENTAGON SURVEY

A group lobbying for the rights of lesbian and gay personnel in the US military has warned gay service-members against taking part in a Pentagon survey.

The survey is part of the Pentagon’s investigation into repealing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) ban on LGBT personnel in the American military, but the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) said that it did not trust military leaders.

The survey has been e-mailed to around 400,000 members of the military to assess their concerns about serving alongside openly gay men and women.

“At this time SLDN cannot recommend that lesbian, gay, or bisexual service members participate in any survey being administered by the Department of Defense, the Pentagon Working Group, or any third-party contractors,” said the organisation.

SLDN said that the military had refused “to provide immunity to service members whose privacy may be inadvertently violated or who inadvertently outs himself or herself.”

While the survey is apparently designed to protect individuals’ privacy, SLDN said that LGBT personnel could be fired if their identity and sexuality are somehow revealed by taking part in the survey.

In a Denver Post story last month, Cynthia Smith, a Pentagon spokesperson, said: “The law is still in effect, and if someone were to out themselves, we would have to begin the discharge process.”