Amid the political wrangling over the Defense Authorization Bill today that centers on the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, as well as enacting the DREAM Act, we are reminded that Americans are decidedly in favor of allowing gay and lesbian people to serve openly in the military.

A report PRRI released last month that analyzed over two decades of polling by Pew Research Center on gay and lesbian issues showed that support has risen steadily over the past few years for allowing gay and lesbian people to serve openly in the military.  As of February of this year a full 61% of Americans were in support, up from 52% in 1994.

In PRRI’s own research in California this summer, 69% of Californians favored allowing gay and lesbian people to serve openly in the military.