Palm Center

Sexual Orientation and Military Service
December 1, 2005

This paper addresses the issue of sexual orientation and military service including an historical overview, critique of contemporary rationales and social psychological issues relevant to the organizational and individual changes that might follow from eliminating the ban on gay and lesbian personnel.
Research Note Assessing "Homosexuals and U.S. Military Policy: Current Issues"
July 1, 2005 | Nathaniel Frank, Ph.D.

A report released by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) reaches several conclusions about the current status of gay service members in the U.S. military serving under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. This note explains its misleading conclusions about the policy, and its effects on the status of gay service members.
Recent Judgments Against the United Kingdom and Their Impact on Other Signatories to the European Convention of Human Rights
December 4, 2004

This Article examines judgments of the European Court of Human Rights
against the United Kingdom in 1999, and how these have affected other
signatory nations to the European Convention for the Protection of
Human Rights.
Gays and Lesbians at War: Military Service in Iraq and Afghanistan Under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
September 1, 2004 | Nathaniel Frank

This study evaluates the impact of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on the capacity of gay troops to perform their duties as part of an effective military force.
Homosexuality and the Israel Defense Forces
June 1, 2004
The Practical and Conceptual Problems with Regulating Harassment in a Discriminatory Institution
May 1, 2004 | Sharon Terman

The Center recently released a draft report studying the practical and conceptual problems with regulating harassment in a discriminatory institution.
Multinational Military Units and Homosexual Personnel
February 1, 2004 | By Geoffrey Bateman and Sameera Dalvi

Since the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy itself has made it impossible to study
the plausibility of the unit cohesion rationale directly, an examination of multinational military units may be the most direct
option for assessing the plausibility of the unit cohesion rationale.
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: Is the Gay Ban Based on Military Necessity?
July 1, 2003

Ten years after "don't ask, don't tell" was put in place there is more
evidence that suggests lifting bans on homosexual personnel does not
threaten unit cohesion or undermine military effectiveness.
A History of the Service of Ethnic Minorites in the U.S. Armed Forces
June 1, 2003

U.S. military has repeatedly been forced to
attenuate the divisions, antagonisms and distrust that have troubled American
culture more broadly. This necessity
has stemmed from the unique position of the armed forces as both a defensive
and a “total” institution in American civic life.
The Pentagon's Gay Ban is Not Based on Military Necessity
January 1, 2003

The evidence that advocates of discrimination invoke to support the
plausibility of the unit cohesion rationale does not constitute
scientifically valid data.

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Why are politicians so reluctant to question the military? Why do the President, Congress and Courts so often defer to the military's preferences...

Palm Center Blog

	Indra Lusero
	May 16, 2013

Research Needed: Transgender Military Service

As the Director of the Transgender Military Initiative, I am thrilled to be commissioning 11 studies to enhance the quality of information available for evaluating transgender service in the United States military, and to address questions related to readiness, morale, welfare, personnel requirements and management.

Myths and Facts

What Does the Empirical Research Say about the Impact of Openly Gay Service on the Military?

Research on openly gay service is extensive, and includes over half a century of evidence gathered by independent researchers and the U.S. military itself, as well as the study of the experience of foreign militaries. The U.S. military’s own researchers have consistently found that openly gay service does not undermine cohesion, and the military has repeatedly sought to condemn or suppress these conclusions when they emerged. Yet no research has ever shown that open homosexuality impairs military readiness.

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Research Topics

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Myths and Facts