It’s official: Don’t ask, don’t tell repeal had exactly zero impact on the military. Nada. Nil. Nothing.

A study released by the Palm Center on Monday showed that the military has suffered no damage because of the repeal of “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” The academic study from a research branch of the Williams Institute at University of California Los Angeles Law School collected views from 553 military generals and admirals, as well as watchdog groups and active duty personnel, including heterosexual, gay, lesbian and bisexuals from all services branches. The results: the gloom and doom that supporters predicted never occurred. 

I was relieved to see that someone had the fortitude to actually perform such a task, giving a scientific overview of the outcomes. Maybe this will help turn the tide in the battle for equality for the LGBT community.

But science—that bane of Republicans—still has done nothing to stop the scare tactics from the RNC.  The RNC continues to wage its war of oppression. It seems that Halloween has come early this year.

According to the Republican Party’s platform this year the Republicans want to repeal of DADT.  Science be damned.

The RNC called the repeal a social experiment. This was the same commentary that naysayers used when blacks were allowed into the military. This mindset predicts similar actions by the Republicans: limiting voter rights, and women’s reproductive rights. I am sensing a theme here.

The Republicans would have you think that voter fraud is running rampant. In a recent decision, a Texas three-judge panel ruled that a Republican-passed voter ID law placed an unfair burden on racial minorities and the poor, the same ones that might vote against them. Immediately, the reaction by Republican Gov. Rick Perry was one of disgust, stating that the decision “subverted the will of the people of Texas.” 

In May 2011, Florida Gov. Rick Scott has been pushing that agenda as well. Scott signed a bill that was recently struck down because it had unfair restrictions on community-based voter registration drives. Yet, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, voter fraud is extremely rare. Again, research undercuts the party’s standard lines.

Women’s reproductive rights are also on the proverbial operating table. Mitt Romney, Republican presidential hopeful, promised to support legislation that would allow employers to deny birth control coverage. Ryan cosponsored a bill that defines life as beginning at conception. By definition, this bill would consider some forms of birth control as murder.

And let’s not forget Missouri Senate candidate Rep. Todd Akin. His comment that a woman’s body can prevent conception when raped shows that science is not necessarily a strong suit with some Republicans.