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The ban on homosexuals in the military could be completely eliminated without compromising the effectiveness of the armed services, should the military choose to do so, say researchers in a new book co-edited by a UC Davis psychology researcher. "While such a major policy change would inevitably create some problems, there is no reason to believe that the Pentagon would be unable to deal successfully with them," says Gregory Herek, a UC Davis social psychologist, and his co-editors, in "Out in Force: Sexual Orientation and the Military," published recently by the University of Chicago Press. In 1993, the Clinton administration applied a compromise policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue," to homosexuals in the military. The book's contributing authors conclude that homosexuals would not impair the ability of military units to complete their mission, that heterosexual personnel can adapt to living with homosexuals and that anti-gay hostility would be lessened by personal contact with openly gay people. "We foresee that the present policy ultimately will be discarded.... As more heterosexuals come to know gay men and lesbians personally, we expect that societal fears and stereotypes about homosexuality will diminish progressively to the point at which sexual orientation becomes an unremarkable demographic characteristic," Herek and his co-editors say.