Using this figure to suggest that a majority of service members support a change is misleading at best. The 70 percent number is inflated because it includes those who replied that they had mixed feelings

Those who are opposed to the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy are conducting an aggressive push to overturn the long-standing policy by year’s end. Not surprisingly, nuanced details are getting lost in the spin cycle.

At the center of this 11th hour rush effort is a 10-month study on the matter released last week by the Pentagon. Opponents of the ban on homosexuals serving openly in the military quickly pushed out the report’s findings. The media for the most part swallowed this story line: The study proves that allowing homosexual men and women to serve openly would present a low-risk to the military—even in a time a war.

“Today’s report confirms that a strong majority of our military men and women and their families—more than two thirds—are prepared to serve alongside Americans who are openly gay and lesbian,” said President Barack Obama upon the report’s release.

The number most widely used—and the figure most likely to stick in the brain of casual readers—is 70 percent. That is the percentage of active duty troops surveyed who believe that a repeal of the policy would be positive, mixed, or of no consequence.

That high number, splashed on newspapers front pages and televisions screens across the nation last week, seems pretty convincing. Until you look more closely at the report.

Read More: http://www.worldmag.com/webextra/17415