Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Historic Context

During the Colonial Era (1600s), sodomy laws were enacted and allotted for the legal punishment of people who engaged in any homosexual activity, regardless if they were homosexual or not; therefore, the military did not have to explicitly exclude or discharge any homosexuals themselves.

During WWII times, homosexuals were only "tolerated" if the military needed more soldiers to fight during WWII. For this reason, the homosexuals that were allowed to fight in the war were masked and "closeted" because coming out of the closet as well as engaging in homosexual acts were grounds for being disbarred dishonorably and/or receiving a blue discharge.

• The military personnel during WWII introduced a process known as the Selective Service System, in which psychiatric evaluation screening became a part of the military induction process. This process evaluated individuals based on their sexual tendencies and revealed if they identified in any way with homosexuality. 

• Instead of focusing on individual homosexual acts, the military sought to end this "crime" by eliminating homosexual persons, which was unconstitutional. The Uniform Code of Military Justice was created and signed by President Truman in 1950. This Uniform Code of Military Justice had determined liable factors for the discharge of service members.

• Psychiatrists viewed homosexuality as an indicator of psychopathic traits (the ability to infect an entire population of soldiers with their tendencies and the non-ability to perform at high enough standards), which is why homosexuals were not wanted; these"criminals" were then prosecuted for their "crimes."

The "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy (passed in 1993) was set during a time of the elimination and separation of various minority groups within the military. Minority groups included African Americans, women, gays, and lesbians that were all given non-combat and menial duties throughout various periods of war because of society’s perception of them.

What Happened?

A national policy had begun to be put into action for homosexual service members. This policy became known as "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" or DADT. It was first adopted on December 21, 1993, but didn’t take effect until February of 1994, during Bill Clinton’s presidency. 

Introduction of Policy

President Clinton attempted to balance between the need as a president to protect both the rights of an individual, and as the Commander in Chief to protect the security of the nation’s armed forces. He believed DADT was a step-forward in the military handling homosexuality than the previous administration's policy (Selective Service). President Clinton spoke in support of DADT at a press conference in January 1993 saying that it was an attempt to remove the ban on "sexual minorities". He stated:

"For people who are willing to play by the rules, able to serve and make a contribution, I believed then and I believe now we should give them the chance to do so."  

Essentially, gays and lesbians could serve in the military- they just needed to "behave".The DADT policy was very much centered around the Armed Forces Code of Conduct.

A poll conducted in 2002 "by the Gallup organization found that 72% of the public supported the right of gays and lesbians to serve in uniform, yet the policy was not repealed until 2011… 56% of civilians responded affirmatively to allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly inarmed forces" (Bateman). However, there were various "gray areas" and loopholes within the new policy that needed to be sorted out because after the Obama Administration repealed DADT, it still wasn’t being properly enforced within the military.

Because of this reality, non-profit organizations such as Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) were founded in response to the repeal of DADT. The SLDN, which provided legal counsel to GLBTQ members who were discharged on the grounds of sexual orientation discrimination, served as a "leading voice for change" for the homosexually identified people within the military and helped combat the Defense of Marriage Act.

Primary Source Analysis

The Library of Congress conducted interviews in 2003 with gay and lesbian veterans as part of their collection of “Stories of the Veterans History Project”. One veteran interviewed was Meg Milner, a member of the Air Force during the Gulf War. During her interview, she was asked several times about how being a part of the LGBTQ community, as well as the military community, affected her time in the service. 

The last year Meg served during the Gulf War was the same year that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was introduced. During this time, she knew that President Clinton ran on a promise to open up the military. Others in around her in the military criticized this plan and she felt like she “couldn’t speak out” for fear that she would be seen as a lesbian by those around her. After “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” it became clear that the policy of openness was not going to be open at all, and that a gay or lesbian serving in the military would be discharged for being open. To her, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was a “constant thought and it was a factor in my decision to retire early”. One surprising thing from her interview was how many people she knew in the service that were gay or lesbian, and were in a relationship with other service members. This shows that even though it was incredibly risky to serve in the military as an LGBTQ person, service men and women were still embracing their sexual orientation and pursuing relationships. 

When asked if the LGBTQ community accepted Meg as a veteran, she said she was had fears of how she would be treated as a veteran. She stated, “My first perception of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered community was that it was very non- military oriented and very peace active oriented and I was more afraid of telling people that I was a former service person than I was [of saying I was] gay”. This is a complete reversal of how she felt in the service during the time of DADT, where saying you were gay meant that you would be kicked out of the military. It is unfortunate that during the war she was afraid to say that she was gay, and that after the war, in the LGBTQ community, she was afraid to say that she was a veteran. It seemed like she could never be comfortable with who she was.  

Sources

Sources of Information

• "Barack Obama: Statement on Certification of Repeal of the Department of Defense's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Policy." Barack Obama: Statement on Certification of Repeal of the Department of Defense's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Policy. July 22, 2011. Accessed January 13, 2016. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=90654&st=dadt&st1=.

• Bateman, Geoffrey W., and Claude J. Summers. 2015. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." GLBTQ Social Sciences 1-15. LGBT Life with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed January 13, 2016). http://www.glbtqarchive.com/ssh/dont_ask_S.pdf

• Biddix, Joseph M., Catherine I. Fogel, and Beth Perry Black. "Comfort Levels of Active Duty Gay/Bisexual Male Service Members in the Military Healthcare System." Military Medicine: 1335-340.

• "Bill Clinton's Press Conference On Gay Ban In The Military Which Led To DADT Compromise." YouTube. October 13, 2011. Accessed January 13, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3PraZEX_FY.

• Bourg, Chris. 2004. Review of Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Debating the Gay Ban in the Military. Contemporary Sociology 33 (4). American Sociological Association: 429–30.

• Burns, Crosby, and Alex Rothman. "The Repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell-1 Year Later." American Progress. September 20, 2012. Accessed January 13, 2016. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/lgbt/report/2012/09/20/38764/the-repeal-of-dont-ask-dont-tell-1-year-later/.

• Burrelli, David. "“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”: The Law and Military Policy on Same-Sex Behavior." Congressional Research Services. October 14, 2010. Accessed January 13, 2016. https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40782.pdf.

• "CNN, Washington Post, & Palm Center Opinion Polls on Allowing Military Gays & Lesbians to Serve Openly." Public Opinion Polls on Don't Ask Don't Tell Military Policy. March 16, 2000. Accessed January 13, 2016. http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_mili2.htm.

• "(DADT) | United States Policy." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. December 15, 2015. Accessed January 14, 2016. http://www.britannica.com/event/Dont-Ask-Dont-Tell.

• Herek, Gregory. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Historical Context." Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Historical Context. Accessed January 13, 2016. http://psc.dss.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/HTML/military_history.html.

• Hollenberg, Harvard. 1993. "'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Means Everybody." New York Times (1923-Current File), Jul 01, 1. 

• "Interview with Meg Miner [3/1/2003]." Interview Transcript: Meg Parrish Miner: Veterans History Project (Library of Congress. Accessed January 24, 2016. https://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp-stories/loc.natlib.afc2001001.05211/transcript?ID=mv0001.

• Lerman, David. "U.S. Military Ends 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' for Gay Troops." Bloomberg.com. September 20, 2011. Accessed January 13, 2016. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-09-20/u-s-military-ends-don-t-ask-don-t-tell-policy-for-gay-troops.

• "President Obama Signs Repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell." YouTube. December 22, 2010. Accessed January 13, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS26CciE0VQ.

• Schwartz, John. 2011. "'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Remains in Effect Months After Passage of Law to End it." New York Times (1923-Current File), Feb 23, 1.

• Stillwell, Paul. "Looking Back." Naval History 25, no. 2 (2011): 6. Accessed January 12, 2016.

• "THE HOMOSEXUAL EXCLUSION LAW vs. THE CLINTON "DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL" POLICY - Search - Center for Military Readiness." THE HOMOSEXUAL EXCLUSION LAW vs. THE CLINTON "DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL" POLICY - Search - Center for Military Readiness. Accessed January 13, 2016. http://cmrlink.org/content/article/34428.

• "Topics in the News: Gays in Military." Gays in Military: Topics in the News. Accessed January 13, 2016. http://www.ontheissues.org/News_Gays_in_Military.htm.

• "William J. Clinton: Remarks Announcing the New Policy on Homosexuals in the Military." William J. Clinton: Remarks Announcing the New Policy on Homosexuals in the Military. Accessed January 12, 2016. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=46867&st=gays&st1=military.

• Zuniga, J. (1993, May 18). 'Don't ask, don't tell' won't do. The Washington Post (1974-Current File)

Sources of Images

• Photo of ROTC DADT used with permission and attributed to Matt Radick.

• Photo of SLDN used with permission and attributed to Ben Murray.

• Photo of Tell Nobody used with permission and attributed to Mike Licht.

Contributors

Jazmine Langley, Claire Watkins, and Janae Williams