66,000 gay servicemen and women?

[tko_ak]

I have no idea how they come up with the number, but a new study is reporting that there are 66,000 gay, lesbian, or bisexual people in the U.S. armed services. Apparently 13,000 are active duty, and 53,000 are reservists. The figure represents 2.2% of all U.S. military personnel

Comments

[fabfemmeboy]

I'm not sure that I buy the last number, just because the majority of DADT discharge cases are pretty straightforward and don't require very many man hours to process. Even the big cases, with an investigation and a hearing, would make sense only if they came up with an hourly charge equivalent to a firm lawyer or using a Laffey Matrix, not based on how much the personnel actually investigating/prosecuting/defending the case make.

I'm also kind of skeptical of the numbers in the first portion because there's no way to get a good, reliable number by direct evidence. It all has to be sampling data. The fact that, during the Prop 8 trial they're throwing out a number of GLB Americans that is about 2-4% (What happened to the "One in Ten" number I always heard, anyway?), and given both the strong conservative bent and institutional homophobia of the military in general - as it contrasts to the largely liberal gay community as a whole - I would be very, very surprised if the percentage of gays in the military was the same as the

[emh4ever]

I think they're also taking into account training/transport/food/housing/etc. costs effectively "lost."

[doc_tok]

I've only been able to find the full report for an earlier 2004 study by the same demographer. For that one he did suggest that the military had a lower percentage than the population as a whole.

Using the mid-point estimate that 3 percent of women and 4 percent of men are gay or lesbian
among adults in the general population, the findings shown in table 2 suggest that 1.8 percent of
active duty personnel are gay or lesbian, meaning that nearly 26,000 gay men and lesbians are
serving on active duty.At that time he used 2000 Census data to estimate "more than 36,000 gay men and lesbians are serving in active duty, representing 2.5 percent of active duty personnel. When the guard and reserve are included, nearly 65,000 men and women in uniform are likely gay or lesbian, accounting for 2.8 percent of military personnel. " He also looked at veterans

[tko_ak]

I share your suspicions, but I would only remind you not to underestimate the government's ability to waste vast amounts of money. And the military is particularly notorious for that.

[evil_admiral]

I question the numbers as well, but if this is true then I want DADT to be repealed to stop all of this wasteful spending, if anything else.

[randomguy3]

"The same study found that each discharge case brought under Don't Ask, Don't Tell costs taxpayers $43,000 each."

Erm... I don't think you mean that every discharge costs every taxpayer $43,000. I'm pretty sure that would bankrupt the country pretty quickly.

[doc_tok]

This caveat was part of a similar 2004 report by the same author:

Of course, the census data come with a variety of caveats. Issues of undercount, possible
measurement error, and the limitations associated with only having information on same-sex
couples all present analytical challenges. Given these challenges, how confident can
policymakers be in these findings? The estimates used in this report suggest that some 36,000
gay men and women are serving in active duty. When the margin of error is taken into account,
this estimate is likely accurate within approximately 20 percent above and below this figure.
While this range is relatively large, the census still represents perhaps the only available data
source where any such estimate can be made.

[tko_ak]

I don't even think the Census really gauges sexual orientation, although I think in 2010 they're going to measure same-sex partnerships. It's imperfect, but it's all we've got.

By the way, your comment has been automatically screened because you aren't a member of the community. Directions on how to rectify this can be found on the user info page. Welcome. :)

[tko_ak]

Also...another new journal?

[mizzoumark]

Could it be possible that the $43,000 does not include the discharge itself but the average cost of training each serviceman they then turn around and kick out? In other words, that's the average amount that the military invests in each soldier that gets discharged under the policy.