Rights advocates hope for ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ repeal

    Gay rights advocates say they hope Congress will be persuaded to repeal the law known as “don’t ask, don’t tell” after a Pentagon study found that doing so would cause little harm to the military.

    Heather Cronk is with Get Equal, which advocates for the repeal.

    “We have started getting early reports from that study, it’s very positive. A vast majority of active duty soldiers and their families are completely OK with integrating gay and lesbian Americans into the armed forces openly and honestly.”

    The study found that more than 70 percent of troops surveyed said the effect of ending the ban would be positive, mixed or nonexistent.

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    The repeal already passed in the House, but faces a tougher fight in the Senate.

    Opponents of the repeal are calling the study biased. They say the leak of selected findings to the media was intended to manipulate the debate. The full study is scheduled to be released Dec. 1.

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