Quick Fact: O'Reilly advances myth that DADT repeal will "cause a lot of morale problems"

From the April 21 edition of Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor:

Pretty vicious on the far left, but I'm not sure why these people are even bothering. As he said, he is against Don't Ask, Don't Tell. They are going to revoke it. They are just trying to figure it out with the military. And the military basically is saying we know. Hey, look, if you do this, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan, it's going to cause a lot of morale problems. Whether you like it or not, people don't want openly gay soldiers or Marines in the barracks and it's going to cause problems.

Fact: Studies show allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly does not affect morale

At least 25 nations -- including many U.S. allies -- allow military service by openly gay men and lesbians. According to the Palm Center, a think tank at the University of California-Santa Barbara that studies sexuality and the military, as of February 2010, 25 nations allowed military service by openly gay men and lesbians, including U.S. allies Australia and Israel and the following NATO member countries: Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

GAO: Other countries say allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly "has not created problems in the military." In a June 1993 report to Congress, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) studied four countries that allow gay men and lesbians to serve in the military -- Canada, Israel, Germany, and Sweden -- and found that military officials said "the presence of homosexuals has not created problems in the military because homosexuality is not an issue in the military or in society at large." It also found that "[m]ilitary officials from each country said that, on the basis of their experience, the inclusion of homosexuals in their militaries has not adversely affected unit readiness, effectiveness, cohesion, or morale." GAO wrote that it chose those four countries to study because they "generally reflect Western cultural values yet still provide a range of ethnic diversity" and have similarly sized militaries.

Palm Center: "No consulted expert anywhere in the world concluded that lifting the ban on openly gay service caused an overall decline in the military." In a February 2010 report, the Palm Center reviewed the experience of the 25 nations whose militaries allow gay men and lesbians to serve and found: "Research has uniformly shown that transitions to policies of equal treatment without regard to sexual orientation have been highly successful and have had no negative impact on morale, recruitment, retention, readiness or overall combat effectiveness. No consulted expert anywhere in the world concluded that lifting the ban on openly gay service caused an overall decline in the military."