Group warns gays that survey could out them

[unhappycamper]

Group warns gays that survey could out them
By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jul 8, 2010 18:10:55 EDT

A group backing repeal of the ban on openly gay service members is urging gay troops not to take part in a survey just distributed by the Pentagon, citing concerns over whether the results will truly be held in confidence.

The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network “at this time ... 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 Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of SLDN, which lobbies for repeal and provides free legal services for service members affected by the Pentagon’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

“While the surveys are apparently designed to protect the individual’s privacy, there is no guarantee of privacy, and DoD has not agreed to provide immunity to service members whose privacy may be inadvertently violated or who inadvertently outs himself or herself.

“If a service member still wishes to participate, he or she should only do so in a manner that does not reveal sexual orientation,” Sarvis said.

The Pentagon says that a “confidential communications mechanism” has been put in place that shields the identity of service members who, after completing the largely multiple-choice survey, opt to add confidential comments when prompted.

[Zenlitened]

1. Has anyone posted a copy of the survey? I'd like to see it, because...

...the whole notion of military brass asking the troops about their "feelings' on all this just strikes me as absurd.

[TriMera]

2. GetEqual is trying to get their hands on a copy.

So far, it's a no-go. It's over 100 questions and I'd love to see it, too.

[racaulk]

3. It's posted in this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=221x161885

:hi:

[sui generis]

4. it shouldn't be the survey so much as how and where its submitted

or even ACCESSED and submitted.

If you have to log on to take it . . . .or if you have to turn it into your CO or anything like that.

If they really want to anonomyze it they need to issue a single use electronic token, with demographics in the actual survey being limited to state geo boundaries, not station. Use the token to submit anonymously and adjust for the margin of error accordingly.

The worst advice the SLDN can give is to "do nothing". Propose an alternative instead of throwing out the bathwater, baby and bathtub.

[sui generis]

5. wanted to delete that last reply. I've read the survey now

it's a plainly biased and leading piece of shit and should be used as tinder for burning its authors at the stake.

I am so sick of this shit. It's not "we red blooded Americans" and "those uppity gays". We don't exist in a vacuum - and we have our own "morale" issues every single god damned day that we're treated like second class citizens and pariahs.

Grow the fuck up, U.S. military leaders. You're a bunch of pathetic fat ass homophobic wannabe's that were in the right place at the right time and happened to get through OCS without breaking a sweat and have never done anything more draining than push a pencil across a desk and you really DON'T have a right to your opinion on the lives of SOME of your service members, nor your finger on the pulse of anything but your own insecurities.

What kills me is I am a close personal friend of a navy four star admiral and it's utterly irrational when the topic comes up - and it's NOT a generation gap issue.

Leadership is not "gauging" the military's potential reaction to repeal and then having your decision driven by cherry picking your surveys. Leadership is figuring out how to do it, and then doing it.