Santa Barbara, Calif.  – Today the Palm Center released a statement following Senator John McCain’s appearance on Meet the Press, where he criticized the upcoming Pentagon Working Group Report on the implementation of the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Dr. Aaron Belkin, Director of the Palm Center, stated:

“Senator McCain’s latest criticism of the Pentagon study uses the same tactic that anti-gay activists have employed for decades. When the evidence doesn’t support the reasons they offer for discrimination, they just turn the data upside down. In this case, the Pentagon report is expected to be 90% supportive of the idea that gays don’t harm the military, so the Senator’s only option is to pretend that it is 50-50. His views do not reflect the evidence or the facts about gays in the military.”