Self-selection and opposition to gay rights among military career-seekers

Abstract

Opposition to gay rights among serving military personnel was one of the leading justifications for the US military's longstanding ban on open service by gay men and lesbians. This study demonstrates that this opposition derives in large part from the self-selection of individuals into military careers. Using data from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program Freshman Survey, it shows a strong and increasing divergence of opinions on gay rights between students seeking military careers and their civilian counterparts, an effect that is large relative to subsequent socialization in the military. This civil–military gap is largely due to the overrepresentation of men and of political conservatives among those intending to enter the military, and the increasing importance of ideology in predicting opinions about gay rights issues. Once demographic and ideological characteristics are taken into account, the effect of seeking a military career on opinions regarding gay rights is small.

Keywords:

• gay and lesbian rights
• public opinion
• public policy
• civil–military relations
• gender
• ideology

Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the Southern Political Science Association, Orlando, Florida, January 3–5, 2013. Thanks to participants for helpful comments. This research was supported by a Naval Academy Research Council summer grant and funding from the Naval Academy Faculty Development Fund. Any views expressed are the author's and do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Naval Academy, Department of Defense, or the US Government.

Notes

1. The de-identified, public-use data used in this analysis were made available by CIRP, sponsored by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, http://heri.ucla.edu/archives.php.

2. The share of college graduates receiving commissions was estimated by dividing total officer accessions from 1980 to 2010 (US Department of Defense, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Personnel and Readiness 2011, Table D-15) by the total number of bachelor's degrees granted over the same time period (US Census Bureau 2011, Table 299).

3. This question appears on each survey in a block of questions about public policy issues that change somewhat from year to year, raising potential concerns about question-order effects. The general stability of responses over time does not suggest a serious problem.

4. From 1997 to 2009, the Freshman Survey also asked respondents about their opinions regarding same-sex marriage. Analysis of this question produces broadly similar results, suggesting that both are measuring underlying opinions regarding gay rights.

5. Changes in the detailed religious affiliation question lead to changes in the proportion classified as “Protestant” or “other religion,” as respondents in some Christian denominations appear to not self-identify as Protestants, but are grouped with Protestants when their denomination is provided as an option on the detailed religious affiliation question (see Pryor et al. 2007, 250). Again, since the analysis that follows is done on a year-by-year basis, this does not pose a major concern.