Aaron Belkin at Huffington Post, offering a sane assessment of the Pentagon survey asking troops how they'd feel about showering with a gay soldier (well, the survey leads off all its questions about gays by using the word "homosexual," a word known to bias surveys about gay rights and gay people):
Perhaps even more troubling, the survey asks questions that would never be posed of other minority groups. Can you imagine asking, "How would you feel about sharing a tent with a Catholic soldier?" Such questions stigmatize the minority group under consideration, thus sending a signal that undermines efforts to promote equality.
And as he adds, it's all ultimately about leadership--about leadership of a president who campaigned by promising to end DADT, which he told us, as he campaigned, he opposes because it's discriminatory:
Yet while there are valid criticisms to be made of the survey, dwelling on it ultimately amounts to a distraction. While we value and welcome the feedback of the troops, the most important question now is whether the White House and Department of Defense will show leadership in insisting on non-discriminatory regulations to replace "don't ask, don't tell."
Where's the leadership for which we voted? Where's the leader we elected? Who told us that, if he didn't fulfill his campaign promises, we were to hold his feet to the fire until he did so.
