Most Americans Support "Out" Service Members

It's official. The majority of Americans support the open service of gays and lesbians in the military, backing the Pentagon's Tuesday report that found repealing DADT would present a low risk to the armed forces.

The New York Times' blog FiveThirtyEight reports that public opinion on gay men and lesbians serving in the military falls into three categories. The first holds that gays and lesbians should be able to serve openly, the second holds that gays and lesbians can serve as long as they "don't tell," and the third holds that they should not be able to serve at all.

When "don't ask, don't tell" was first established, none of the three positions had majority support among Americans.

"Today, one position has emerged as the clear preference of the majority of Americans," FiveThirtyEight reports. "Seventy-five percent of Americans support open service, 17 oppose any service, and only 8 percent support the compromise position of 'don't ask, don't tell.'"