Discrimination against women, homosexuals and other religions is still widespread in the armed forces, armed forces experts said.

Former officers and professors discussed discrimination in the military to an audience of about 100 at the Sixth Annual Mass Humanities Fall Symposium at Boston College Saturday.’

Former Navy fighter pilot Mary Cummings said having a truly diverse military population is impossible.

‘ ‘The broadest military could be and would be the best thing, but unfortunately, there will never be a perfect match in demographics,’ Cummings said.

U.S. Army War College professor and retired colonel Charles Allen said there is diversity in the various positions that exist in the armed forces.

‘ ‘Just like in a football team where the differences are whether you are a linebacker or a quarterback, the military is diverse in its own way,’ Allen said.’

Cummings said she left the Navy because of the hostility and discrimination she faced as a woman. Though there has been progress in allowing women to join the armed forces, society still cannot see women in power, she said.’

‘ ‘The reason women are not in male-oriented roles is because society still values the unintelligent skinny girls as role models,’ she said. ‘The world does not know how lethal women can be.’

If a woman does stay in the armed forces she faces various difficulties in the testosterone-dominated environment, Cummings said. Sexual assault is widespread in the armed forces.

‘I do not know of one woman in the military or Navy that was not sexually assaulted,’ Cummings said. ‘It is never reported because that only makes the men angrier and matters worse.’

‘The fact that sexual assault is so widespread is alarming,’ attendee and Northeastern University sophomore Emma Dunham said. ‘It happens to civilians every day, but is intensified in the military because of the close living quarters.” ‘

Religious discrimination is also prevalent in the armed forces and it is preventing the military from moving forward, Military Religious Freedom Foundation Founder and President Michael Weinstein said.

‘ ‘How can we move beyond religious discrimination if there are organizations such as the Officers Christian Fellowship, whose sole mission is to follow biblical means of leadership and create a godly army, according to their brochures?’ Weinstein said.’

Weinstein said he thinks only an executive order by President Barack Obama could eliminate discrimination in the armed forces.

‘This isn’t rocket science,’ Weinstein said. ‘Why can’t Obama just issue an executive order on a zero-tolerance harassment policy?’

University of California at Santa Barbara’s Palm Center senior research fellow Nathaniel Frank said now is the time for the Obama administration to address discrimination against homosexuals and in general in the Military.

‘We have an historic window to act right now but it is closing fast as the health care issue is dragging on,’ Frank said. ‘Obama needs to eliminate the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy.’

The ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy, issued in 1993, created laws and regulations regarding homosexuality and the U.S. military. Under the policy, ‘service members are not to be asked about nor allowed to discuss their same sex orientation,’ according to the Congressional Research Service Report for Congress.

‘Under ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ 13,000 officers were discharged including 1,000 crucial operational officers out of which 60 of the 300 linguists were Arabic linguists,’ Frank said.’

Former Vietnam War Army Officer Jack Sutton said the focus of discrimination has changed since he was in the army.

‘ ‘I’m reluctant to say it has improved,’ Sutton said. ‘Before there was racial discrimination, and now they are against homosexuals and other religions.’

‘When you tell someone they are not courageous or loyal because of their religion, it’s like telling someone they are stupid because of the color of their skin,’ Weinstein said.