Do your own investigating and you will find that the most credible
research suggests somewhere between one-third of one percent and
three percent. Ten percent is nonsense.

The popular remark is to say one is born with this perference. But if
gays believed such were true there would be no need to remove 'don't
ask - don't tell' in order to do lifestyle recruiting in the armed
services.

As far as a percentageo the population, the gay community likes to
quote a 10% figure. Which was first offered by Kinsey who had no
research or empirical basis by which to justify such a claim.

Do your own investigating and you will find that the most credible
research suggests somewhere between one-third of one percent and three
percent. Ten percent is nonsense.

As far as a percentageo the population, the gay community likes to
quote a 10% figure. Which was first offered by Kinsey who had no
research or empirical basis by which to justify such a claim.

The popular remark is to say one is born with this perference. But if
gays believed such were true there would be no need to remove 'don't
ask - don't tell' in order to do lifestyle recruiting in the armed
services.

Not all members of the right wing want to legislate the bedroom.
http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2005/04/10/news/breaking_news/doc425905e5231ec347011137.txt

Republican lawmaker urging end to `don't ask, don't tell' policy
By Steve Rothaus, Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)

MIAMI -- At odds with her party's leadership, Republican Congresswoman
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida is urging the Pentagon to end "don't ask,
don't tell" and allow gay men and lesbians to join and remain in the
military.

Not all members of the right wing want to legislate the bedroom.
http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2005/04/10/news/breaking_news/doc425905e5231ec347011137.txt

Republican lawmaker urging end to `don't ask, don't tell' policy
By Steve Rothaus, Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)

MIAMI -- At odds with her party's leadership, Republican Congresswoman
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida is urging the Pentagon to end "don't ask,
don't tell" and allow gay men and lesbians to join and remain in the
military.

"We've tried the policy. I don't think it works. And we've spent a lot of
money enforcing it," said Ros-Lehtinen, a member of the Subcommittee on
National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations, who
became a co-sponsor of the bill on Tuesday.

"We investigate people. Bring them up on charges. Basically wreck their
lives. ... People who've signed up to serve our country. We should be
thanking them," she said.

Although her support won't change the law overnight, it represents a
dramatic break with GOP leadership over a hot-button issue that has split
the party and the nation.

Ros-Lehtinen, along with House Republicans Christopher Shays of
Connecticut and Jim Kolbe of Arizona, joins 70 Democrats in support of the
Military Readiness Enhancement Act, introduced by Rep. Marty Meehan,
D-Mass., last month to repeal the longtime gay ban.

"Don't ask, don't tell" became law in 1993, a compromise after President
Bill Clinton sought to relax military policy and allow gays to serve
openly. The law, which easily passed in both the House and Senate,
prohibits commanders and investigators from prying into a service member's
sex life, but calls for military discharge if someone in the armed service
acknowledges he or she is gay.

"It doesn't make any sense," Ros-Lehtinen said of the ban. "There's no
scientific evidence that sexual orientation has an effect on the ability
to perform as a military officer or a buck private."

For several years, Ros-Lehtinen has taken a leadership role in backing
pro-gay legislation. She has co-sponsored or supported:

--A federal hate-crimes act.

--A bill that protects gays from federal employment discrimination.

--Laws that increased funding for HIV/AIDS prevention.

Nearly 10,000 men and women have been discharged under "don't ask, don't
tell," which has cost the U.S. government more than $200 million to
enforce since passage in 1993, according to the Servicemembers Legal
Defense Network , a Washington gay-rights group.

Last week, an Army sergeant who was awarded a Purple Heart after being
wounded in Iraq publicly disclosed his homosexuality. He risks going to
jail and an early discharge from the service.

"I know a ton of gay men that would be more than willing to stay in the
Army if they could just be open," Sgt. Robert Stout, 23, told The
Associated Press. "But if we have to stay here and hide our lives all the
time, it's just not worth it."

Ros-Lehtinen, 52, said the military "should get the best men and women
regardless of their sexual orientation."

"It doesn't seem the best military tradition to exclude people because of
their sexual orientation," she said. "They can serve with as much
distinction as anyone else."

Ros-Lehtinen's husband, former acting U.S. Attorney Dexter Lehtinen, 59,
was awarded a Purple Heart for severe facial injuries he received during
Army combat in Vietnam. And her stepson, Douglas Lehtinen, 28, is a Marine
officer scheduled to be deployed this summer to Iraq.

"We've had these discussions in our family," Ros-Lehtinen said. "Douglas
would have no problem serving alongside anyone who's capable."

"In Iraq and Afghanistan we are fighting alongside coalition forces that
have in them gay men and women," Ros-Lehtinen said. "England is actively
recruiting gay men and women to join their armed forces."


Ros-Lehtinen said she has heard the arguments against allowing them to
serve (straight men not wanting to shower with gay men, etc.) and that
they're "ludicrous."

"It's the same kind of talk we heard about women serving in the military
and African Americans," she said.

Congressmen Alcee L. Hastings, D-Fla., and Robert Wexler, D-Fla., also are
co-sponsors of lifting the gay ban.

"If you're in the military, the only concern should be if you shoot
straight -- not if you are straight," Hastings said.


The bill -- which has no companion legislation in the Senate -- has a long
way to go before becoming law. First, it needs to get out of committee.

"The odds are very small, unless the top military brass would embrace it,"
Wexler said. "When was the last time it snowed in South Florida?"

U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who chairs the House Armed Services
Committee, has consistently voted against gay-rights issues, according to
Human Rights Campaign, a pro-gay Washington group that ranks lawmakers on
a scale of 0 to 100, 100 being the highest level of support.

Hunter ranks 0; Ros-Lehtinen ranks 86, according to HRC's 2004 report.

Two years ago, HRC sent Ros-Lehtinen a thank-you note for "the totality of
her record, not just one vote."

Ros-Lehtinen "has really taken a leadership issue on repealing the
military's gay ban among Republicans," said Steve Ralls, communications
director for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

"Her endorsement, her sponsorship of the bill, is going to lead a lot of
other moderate Republicans in the House to come on board," he said.

Perhaps, but it's unlikely Ros-Lehtinen will sway conservative GOP leaders
including House Speaker Tom DeLay.

"The other side has been systematically, over time, desensitizing the
American people into thinking that this is an acceptable lifestyle. It is
not acceptable," DeLay told The Miami Herald in a 1998 discussion about
gay rights. "It is wrong. It is dangerous. It destroys families. It
destroys people."

Ros-Lehtinen says she will staunchly support the repeal until it happens.

"It's a process -- a learning process. It takes a long time to get people
to change their minds. I don't get frustrated. If I did, I wouldn't keep
talking about the Cuban embargo every day."



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