It makes me sad, and a bit angry that studies have been conducted to see if allowing gays to serve in the military would be detrimental the national security and no such threat has been found. What's worse was in 1957 when it was determined that the military should not move ahead of civilian society in regards to homosexuals serving.
The DoD has funded studies on the impact of gay servicemembers as far back as 1957, when the Navy's Crittenden Report (pdf) found "no factual data" to support the idea that they posed a greater security risk than heterosexual personnel. Straight officers boasting secrets due to "feelings of inadequacy" were a realer threat, it found. Despite these findings, the report recommended no changes to dismissal policies, for a reason that would define the department's stance on open service into the 21st century: "The service should not move ahead of civilian society nor attempt to set substantially different standards in attitude or action with respect to homosexual offenders."
So there you have it. Heterosexual officers were found to potentially be a larger security threat that homosexuals. Honestly I feel anyone that's hiding a secret straight, gay, or bi has the same potential to be a threat to national security, but what do I know?
From the time I spent in the Navy it would seem I know as much as researchers from 1957.
