Of course, the military ... are filled with religious zealots with a disdain for "those queers"
You excluded the important part ([its supporters]),I excluded that part because I'm not arguing that part
but as I believe I've mentioned before, your experience in the Air Force likely isn't representative of the armed services at-large in most demographic terms (those who join USAF I can't see being less educated or less secular than the overall military).
Even if it's an indirect connection of sorts, I feel confident in saying that homophobia is more prevalent in the military than among the general population - and the only modern-day justification for such is religious influence, whether it is direct or not. If there is less religiosity among the military than the public at-large, then it's almost certainly predicated on hordes of poor people being absorbed into the Army/Marines that don't attend church services but nevertheless absorb the more toxic elements of its teachings culturally (and if they do believe in a higher power, I'm frankly unwilling to make a distinction, no matter how "nuanced" their arrival at similar antiquated beliefs may be).
no cite and you're under the impression there are hordes of poor people in the military?
Here is a cite for you.Most members of the military come from middle-class neighborhoods. A neighborhood affluence study found that the middle three quintiles were overrepresented among enlisted recruits, while the top and bottom quintiles were underrepresented.
remember, it's harder to get into the Army than it is to get into college.
