News Flash: Petraeus Tells CNN He’s Worked With Gay, Lesbian CIA Officers

According to Business Week:

General David Petraeus, the head of the U.S. Central Command, told CNN that he has worked with Central Intelligence Agency officers “who were known to be gay and one who’s known to be lesbian.”

“After the 10 seconds of awareness wore off, the focus was on the professional attributes,” he said on the CNN program “Fareed Zakaria GPS” in a segment posted on the program’s Web site.
The U.S. military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell policy” is something that “can be worked through, frankly,” Petraeus said on the CNN program, which is scheduled for broadcast today. Petraeus said he’ll disclose his views on the policy to lawmakers.

Congress is reviewing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that lets gays serve in the military as long as they don’t reveal their sexual orientation. President Barack Obama pledged to lift the ban on gays in the military in his Jan. 27 State of the Union address.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates endorsed Obama’s position and said the Pentagon would undertake a yearlong study of steps needed to change it.

‘Not Sure’
Petraeus said Feb. 22 on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program that he’s “not sure” whether U.S. troops care about the sexual orientation of their colleagues, and he supports the Defense Department’s plan to review the policy.

President Bill Clinton adopted the “don’t ask” policy in 1993 as a compromise between those who wanted to abolish the ban on gay service members and military officials and others who were concerned about disrupting cohesion in the armed forces.

There are about 66,000 gay men, lesbians and bisexuals in the U.S. military, including 13,000 on active duty, according to a study by the Williams Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law.

A poll by Hamden, Connecticut-based Quinnipiac University released last month found 65 percent saying that ending the policy wouldn’t be divisive or hurt combat effectiveness, while 30 percent disagreed.