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Study found 70% of military say letting openly gay personnel serve won't effect unit cohesion and military readiness

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree heard a first-hand report from Pentagon officials on a comprehensive study on the military's Don't Ask Don't Tell policy. Pingree heard the testimony at a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee today.

"This was a massive study and the results couldn't be more clear—letting openly gay men and women serve in the military poses virtually no threat to military readiness and little disruption for personnel," Pingree said after the hearing.

The exhaustive report surveyed 115,000 service members and found a vast majority of them—70%--said letting openly gay members serve in their unit would have little or no effect.

"These results aren't surprising," Pingree said. "I hear from veterans on issues that are important to them all the time and virtually no one ever brings up Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Now the Pentagon has done an extremely thorough survey that proves it's simply not a big issue to most military personnel."

Pingree echoed the call of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who said the results of the review should encourage the Senate to pass a repeal of the policy.

"We already passed a repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell in the House," Pingree said. "I hope this study convinces the Senate to act before the end of the year. This policy hurts recruitment, it has forced thousands of qualified personnel out of the service and it hurts our readiness. There is no reason to let it go on any longer."