“DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL” POLICY

Intended to decrease harassment, the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy allowed lesbian and gay soldiers to serve in the United States military as long as they didn’t share their sexual orientation with their branch of service. President Bill Clinton’s administration originally tried to lift the ban on lesbian and gay people in the military, but opposition forced it to accept this compromise in 1994. As a result, the crime became being openly gay while serving in the military. However, the policy also forbade military commanders from asking their troops about their sexual orientation as an effort to protect privacy.

LGBT-033, 2.2: “I Want You! To End the Military Ban” Poster

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES UNDER “DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL”

To some, life under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was an improvement from the previous policy. Melita McCully described the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy as a step in the right direction for LGBTQ+ servicemembers “because at least nobody could ask us any longer.” At least, that was the policy that was supposed to be pursued.

However, it wasn’t a perfect solution even for those who experienced less harassment under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”.

Over its 17-year lifespan, "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" received significant criticism. Its attempts to protect the privacy of LGBTQ+ soldiers were insufficient as LGBTQ+ soldiers were still harassed and questioned about their sexual orientation. In 1994, 617 service members were reported to be discharged from the U.S. military because they were gay or lesbian. That number rose to 1,145 service members in 1998 according to the New York Times article entitled “Bigotry in the Military”.

Lindsay Snowden, a U.S. army nurse who served from 1993 to 2002, was confronted by sirb lieutenant about a little rainbow sticker on sirb car. This sticker led the lieutenant to directly ask Snowden if sirb was gay. Knowing the consequences, Snowden never answered the lieutenant’s question. Snowden eventually reached a point where sirb didn’t want to risk an investigation and dishonorable discharge after giving nine years to the military, so Snowden asked for a discharge in 2002.

LGBT-015, 1.8.7: “Bigotry in the Military.” The New York Times, 30 August 1999.

Criticisms of "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell"

Snowden’s experience was far too common in the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy. The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network reported that female servicemembers were specifically singled out for harassment, accounting for about a fifth of the discharges for homosexuality despite only making up thirteen percent of active duty. They were specifically singled out and accused of homosexuality after filing sexual harassment or assault complaints against a male co-worker.

There was also a lot of confusion surrounding the policy in terms of how it was carried out. Military leaders found it difficult to know when and how investigations were to be conducted under this new policy. An issue also existed regarding what classified as the “credible evidence” needed to investigate LGBTQ+ servicemembers.

Repeal of "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell"(dadt)

As several thousands of military members were discharged for being LGBTQ+, the repeal of the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" (DADT) policy came in December 2010 after Congress overturned it and the repeal was signed by President Barack Obama. It was put into effect in 2011, allowing gay and lesbian servicemembers to openly serve in the U.S. military (Archives Foundation).

The repeal of "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" received a positive reaction from servicemembers like Snowden. Gay and lesbian servicemembers now “could just live free, get all the benefits, just the same as everyone else” serving in the military, as Snowden explained. Snowden even tried to re-enlist in the military, but the length of time sirb had been out of the military would have made Snowden drop a rank in order to re-enlist.

LGBT-050: “Obama Pride” Button

Life for LGBTQ+ Servicemembers since the Repeal of DADT

Since President Obama repealed the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" (DADT) policy in 2010, gay and lesbian soldiers were able to openly serve in the military without fear of discharge. One source estimates that around 70,000 gay men and women were members in the U.S. military as of 2018 (De la Garza, 2018). In 2016, the Department of Defense also announced that transgender soldiers could openly serve in the military as well. That meant that the estimated 2,500 to 15,000 active duty soldiers who were transgender did not have to fear a discharge because of their sexual orientation (Steinmetz, 2017).

In a 2017 presidential memorandum, President Trump expressed his desire to reinstate the previous ban on transgender people in the military. The administration used arguments similar to those employed in the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" period to justify such a ban, stating that transgender servicemembers could ‘’impair unit readiness” and “undermine unit cohesion” (De la Garza, 2018). The Trump Administration’s ban also sought to stop the “use of DoD or DHS resources to fund reassignment surgical procedures for military personnel” that had been offered to transgender soldiers in 2016 (Presidential memorandum).

However, the RAND Corporation investigated the impact transgender soldiers would have on the military in a 2016 study. The report stated that the transgender troops would be “a small fraction of the total force” as there were only about 1,320 to 6,630 transgender people estimated to be actively serving among the roughly 1.3 million active service troops. It also argued that transgender troops would “have minimal impact on readiness and health care costs” of the U.S. military (RAND Corporation, 2016).

Shortly after the memo was released in 2017, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia blocked the Trump administration’s ban on transgender soldiers. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly explained the court’s decision by stating that “there is absolutely no support for the claim that the ongoing service of transgender people would have any negative effective on the military at all” in the opinion (Steinmetz, 2017). Several other lawsuits in lower courts delayed the ban on transgender people in the military from taking effect until the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision to lift two injunctions that had been blocking the ban was given in January 2019 (Liptak, 2019).

Oral History Interviews

Carroll, Joanne. Interview by Barry Loveland, 18 November 2016, Lancaster, PA. LGBT Center of Central PA History Project. Archives and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.

Freiberg, Jerre. Interview by Mary Merriman, 3 December 2014, Lancaster, PA. LGBT Center of Central PA History Project. Archives and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.

Kegris, Bob. Interview by Ann Van Dyke, 21 June 2013, Harrisburg, PA. LGBT Center of Central PA History Project. Archives and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.

Lobur, Julie. Interview by Bob Kegris, 12 November 2013. LGBT Center of Central PA History Project. Archives and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.

Maser, Charles. Interview by Mary Merriman and Mark Stoner, 8 May 2014. LGBT Center of Central PA History Project. Archives and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.

McCully, Melita. Interview by Marjorie Forrester, 28 November 2017, Harrisburg, PA. LGBT Center of Central PA History Project. Archives and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.

Merriman, Mary. Interview by Mark Stoner, 28 August 2013, Lancaster, PA. LGBT Center of Central PA History Project. Archives and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.

Snowden, Lindsay. Interview by Liam Fuller, 22 March 2015. LGBT Center of Central PA History Project. Archives and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.

SOURCES

“Bigotry in the Military.” The New York Times, 30 August 1999.
De La Garza, Alejandro. “'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Was a Complicated Turning Point for Gay Rights. 25 Years Later, Many of the Same Issues Remain.” TIME, 19 July 2018, https://time.com/5339634/dont-ask-dont-tell-25-year-anniversary/
Liptak, Adam. “Supreme Court Revives Transgender Ban for Military Service.” The New York Times, 22 January 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/22/us/politics/transgender-ban-military-supreme-court.html.
“Military Service by Transgender Individuals.” Presidential Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security, 25 August 2017, https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/presidential-memorandum-secretary-defense-secretary-homeland-security/.
National Archives Foundation. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010.” https://www.archivesfoundation.org/documents/dont-ask-dont-tell-repeal-act-2010/.
RAND Corporation. “Impact of Transgender Personnel on Readiness and Health Care Costs in the U.S. Military Likely to Be Small.” News Releases, RAND Corporation, 30 June 2016, www.rand.org/news/press/2016/06/30.html.
“Rejecting ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’.” The New York Times, December 1999.
Schmitt, Eric. “Gay Troops: Clinton’s Juggling Act.” The New York Times, 18 October 1994.
Shenon, Philip. “Despite New Policy, Military Asks About Homosexuality.” The New York Times, 27 February 1996.
Steinmetz, Katy. “President Trump's Transgender Ban Was Just Blocked. Here's What That Means for Troops.” TIME, 2017 October 30, https://time.com/ 5002871/trump-bans-transgender-military-injunction/.