Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) is the nickname for the policy stated within Defense Directive 1304.26, issued by President Bill Clinton late in 1993. The policy was intended as a "compromise" — one that purports to restrict the United States military from "witch-hunting" secretly gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members or applicants, while absolutely barring "openly" gay or bisexual people from joining the military, and expelling those already serving.

The DADT policy modified the gay ban clause added by House Armed Services Chairman Ron Dellums (D-CA) to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994. Dellum's addition was itself largely derived from Defense Directive 1332.14 Department of Defense Directive 1332.14, issued by President Ronald Reagan in 1982. The defense authorization bill with the gay ban language passed Congress mid-1993 and was signed by President Clinton later that year converting Reagan's gay ban policy into federal law.

A month after signing the defense authorization bill, President Clinton issued Defense Directive 1304.26 — the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy which modified the absolute ban.

"Don't Ask" essentially means that superiors are not to initiate investigation of a service member's sexual orientation in the absence of prohibited behaviors, though credible and articulable evidence of homosexual behavior may cause an investigation. "Don't Tell" prohibits military personnel from disclosing they are gay or have any kind of same-sex relationships — effectively permitting deeply closeted gays and bisexuals to serve as long as they do not "out" themselves and they are not "outed" by others.

Persecutions and harassment of suspected gay and bisexual servicemen and women continue despite the policy, and more than 13,000 troops have been discharged for being gay — an average of two per day.

Background
The LGBT-related policies of the United States military have changed over the course of the 20th century. The subject remains a debate in United States Congress, the topic of political campaigns and activism, presidential speeches, and popular opinion polls. Starting in 1916, neutral "blue discharges" were often given to gay personnel. In 1947, the blue discharges were discontinued and instead labeled "general" and "undesirable". Under such a system, a service member found to be gay but who had not committed any sexual acts while in service would receive an undesirable discharge. Those who were found guilty of engaging in sexual conduct were dishonorably discharged. From the 1940s through the Vietnam War, some notable service members who were incidentally gay, avoided discharges despite pre-screening efforts. The policy garnered public scrutiny through the 1980s and 1990s, and it became a political issue of the 1992 U.S. presidential election with Bill Clinton and others citing the brutal murder of gay U.S. Navy petty officer Allen R. Schindler, Jr. After Bill Clinton won the presidency, Congress rushed to enact the existing gay ban policy into federal law, outflanking Clinton's planned repeal effort.

History
The policy was introduced as a compromise measure in 1993 by then-President Bill Clinton who campaigned on the promise to allow all citizens to serve in the military regardless of sexual orientation. At the time, per Reagan's Defense Directive 1332.14, it was military policy that "homosexuality is incompatible with military service" and persons who engaged in homosexual acts or stated that they are homosexual or bisexual were discharged. The Uniform Code of Military Justice, passed by Congress in 1950 and signed by President Harry S Truman, established the policies and procedures for discharging homosexual service members.

Congress got in front of Clinton and included text in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 (passed in 1993) requiring the military to abide by regulations essentially identical to the 1982 absolute ban policy. The Clinton Administration on December 21, 1993 issued Defense Directive 1304.26, which directed that military applicants should not to be asked about their sexual orientation. This is the policy now known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell".

Beyond the official ban, gay personnel were often the target of various types of harassment by their comrades, intended to compel them to resign or confess to investigators. An infamous version of this harassment was called a "blanket party"; at night several service members would cover the face of their victim with a blanket then beat the victim. Often these beatings were severe and occasionally even fatal, as in the case of Allen R. Schindler, Jr.. In defense of his DADT policy, President Clinton cited U.S. Navy Radioman Petty Officer Third Class Schindler, brutally murdered by shipmate Terry M. Helvey (with the aid of an accomplice), leaving a "nearly-unrecognizable corpse". DADT has officially prohibited such behavior, but harassment continues.

In the midst of the 1993 furor, the National Defense Research Institute prepared a study for the Office of the Secretary of Defense published as Sexual Orientation and U.S. Military Personnel Policy: Options and Assessment. It concluded, in measured language, that "circumstances could exist under which the ban on homosexuals could be lifted with little or no adverse consequences for recruitment and retention" if the policy were implemented with care, principally because many factors contribute to individual enlistment and re-enlistment decisions.

In Congress, Democratic Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia led the contingent that favored maintaining the absolute ban on gays. Reformers were led by Democratic Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts, who favored modification (but ultimately voted for the defense authorization bill with the gay ban language), and retired Republican Senator Barry Goldwater, who argued on behalf of full repeal. After Congressional phone lines were flooded by organized anti-gay opposition, President Clinton backed off on his campaign promise to repeal the ban in favor of the DADT "compromise."



In September 2005, the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military – a "think tank" affiliated with the University of California, Santa Barbara, and renamed the Michael D. Palm Center in October 2006 – issued a news release revealing the existence of a 1999 FORSCOM regulation (Regulation 500-3-3) that allowed the active duty deployment of Army Reservists and National Guard troops who say that they are gay or who are accused of being gay. U.S. Army Forces Command spokesperson Kim Waldron later confirmed the regulation and indicated that it was intended to prevent Reservists and National Guard members from pretending to be gay to escape combat.

DADT has been upheld five times in federal court, and in a Supreme Court case, Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, Inc. (2006), the Supreme Court unanimously held that the federal government could withhold funding in order to force universities to accept military recruiters in violation of university nondiscrimination policies.

Echoing the events of 1992-3, Barack Obama also campaigned on a full repeal of the laws barring gays from serving in the military. As president, Obama said in his first State of the Union Address, "This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are."

On March 25, 2010, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced new rules mandating that only flag officers may initiate discharge proceedings and imposing more stringent rules of evidence be used during discharge proceedings.

Gay activists meanwhile accuse the president of foot-dragging.

Scientific community
In 1993, Gregory M. Herek, Ph.D., associate research psychologist at the University of California at Davis and a national authority on public attitudes toward lesbians and gay men, testified before the House Armed Services Committee, chaired by Representative Ron Dellums. Dr. Herek testified on behalf of the American Psychological Association and five other national professional organizations; the American Psychiatric Association, the National Association of Social Workers, the American Counseling Association, the American Nursing Association, and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States. Dr. Herek testified: "My written testimony to the Committee summarizes the results of an extensive review of the relevant published research from the social and behavioral sciences. That review is lengthy. However, I can summarize its conclusions in a few words: The research data show that there is nothing about lesbians and gay men that makes them inherently unfit for military service, and there is nothing about heterosexuals that makes them inherently unable to work and live with gay people in close quarters." In his testimony, Dr. Herek reviewed existing scientific research concerning issues of unit cohesion and effectiveness and the fitness of lesbians and gay men for military service. He concluded that straight personnel can overcome their prejudices and adapt to living and working in close quarters with gays. Furthermore, he said gays are not inherently less capable of military service than are straight women and men. "The assumption that heterosexuals cannot overcome their prejudices toward gay people is a mistaken one," said Dr. Herek. Dr. Herek stated in 2008: "Today, as then (1993), the real question is not whether sexual minorities can be successfully integrated into the military. The social science data answered this question in the affirmative then, and do so even more clearly now. Rather, the issue is whether the United States is willing to repudiate its current practice of anti-gay discrimination and address the challenges associated with a new policy."

American Psychological Association states: "Empirical evidence fails to show that sexual orientation is germane to any aspect of military effectiveness including unit cohesion, morale, recruitment and retention (Belkin, 2003; Belkin & Bateman, 2003; Herek, Jobe, & Carney, 1996; MacCoun, 1996; National Defense Research Institute, 1993)."

Comparative data from foreign militaries and domestic police and fire departments show that when lesbians, gay men and bisexuals are allowed to serve openly there is no evidence of disruption or loss of mission effectiveness (Belkin & McNichol, 2000–2001; Gade, Segal, & Johnson, 1996; Koegel, 1996).

When openly gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals have been allowed to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces (Cammermeyer v. Aspin, 1994; Watkins v. United States Army, 1989/1990), there has been no evidence of disruption or loss of mission effectiveness.

The U.S. military is capable of integrating members of groups historically excluded from its ranks, as demonstrated by its success in reducing both racial and gender discrimination (Binkin & Bach, 1977; Binkin, Eitelberg, Schexnider, & Smith, 1982; Kauth & Landis, 1996; Landis, Hope, & Day, 1984; Thomas & Thomas, 1996). }}

Public opinion


Public opinion polls have been widely varied in their results. A national poll conducted in May 2005 by the Boston Globe showed 79% of participants don't oppose openly gay people from serving in the military. In a 2008 Washington Post–ABC News poll, 75% of Americans – including 80% of Democrats, 75% of independents, and 66% of conservatives – said that openly gay people should be allowed to serve in the military.

An April 2009 CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll showed that 48% of Americans approved of the DADT policy, 8% believed that the policy was too lenient on gays, while 37% believed that the policy was too harsh.

A February 2010 Quinnipiac University national poll shows 57% of American voters favor gays serving openly, compared to 36% opposed, and 66% say the current policy of not allowing openly gay personnel to serve is discrimination, opposed to 31% who see no discrimination. A CBS News/New York Times national poll done at the same time shows 58% of Americans favor gays serving openly, compared to 28% opposed.

Military personnel opinion
A 2006 Zogby International poll of military members found that 26% favor of gays serving in the military, 37% opposed, and 37% expressed no preference or were unsure. 66% of respondents who had experience with gays in their unit said their presence had either no impact or a positive impact on their personal morale, while 64% said the same applied to overall unit morale. As for respondents uncertain whether they had served with gay personnel, 51% thought gays would have a neutral or positive effect on personal morale, while 48% thought that they would have a negative effect. More generally, 73% of respondents said that they felt comfortable in the presence of gay and lesbian personnel.

Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. John Shalikashvili (Ret.) and former Senator and Secretary of Defense William Cohen spoke against the policy publicly in January 2007: "I now believe that if gay men and lesbians served openly in the United States military, they would not undermine the efficacy of the armed forces," General Shalikashvili wrote. "Our military has been stretched thin by our deployments in the Middle East, and we must welcome the service of any American who is willing and able to do the job."

In December 2007, 28 retired generals and admirals urged Congress to repeal the policy, citing evidence that 65,000 gay men and women are currently serving in the armed forces and that there are over 1,000,000 gay veterans. On November 17, 2008, 104 retired generals and admirals signed a similar statement.

On May 4, 2008, while Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen addressed the graduating cadets at United States Military Academy,West Point, a cadet asked what would happen if the next administration were supportive of legislation allowing gays to serve openly. Mullen responded, "Congress, and not the military, is responsible for [DADT]." Previously, during his Senate confirmation hearing in 2007, Mullen told lawmakers, "I really think it is for the American people to come forward, really through this body, to both debate that policy and make changes, if that's appropriate." He went on to say, "I'd love to have Congress make its own decisions" with respect to considering repeal.

In an interview on CNN's State of the Union broadcast on July 5, 2009, Colin Powell said he thought that the policy was "correct for the time" but that "sixteen years have now gone by, and I think a lot has changed with respect to attitudes within our country, and therefore I think this is a policy and a law that should be reviewed." In the same program, Admiral Mullen said the policy would continue to be implemented until the law was repealed, and that his advice was to "move in a measured way... At a time when we're fighting two conflicts there is a great deal of pressure on our forces and their families."

Several gay service members have written novels and nonfiction works about life in the military under DADT. In 2005, Rich Merritt released his memoir Secrets of a Gay Marine Porn Star, and in 2008 Brett Edward Stout released his first novel, Sugar-Baby Bridge. Openly gay service member Dan Choi, a founder of West Point's LBGT group Knights Out, made an appearance on the web-based documentary series In Their Boots, criticizing the U.S. military's neglect of service members families. As a linguist, Choi was among 59 gay Arabic speakers discharged by the military, along with 9 gay Farsi speakers discharged by the military up to June 2009, despite a shortage of translators for these languages.

In September 2009, Air Force Colonel Om Prakash sharply criticized the policy in an article published in Joint Force Quarterly. He argued that it is unsound for several reasons, including the complete lack of any scientific basis for the proposition that unit cohesion is compromised by the presence of openly gay personnel. The article won the Secretary of Defense National Security Essay competition for 2009.

Speaking in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee on February 2, 2010, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen denounced the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. A March 2010 poll by the Military Times asking over 3000 service members "do you favor or oppose allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military?" resulted in 51% oppose votes, with 24% in favor and the remaining neutral or declining to answer.

Barack Obama
During his presidential campaign, then-Senator Barack Obama stated in an open letter that he "called for us to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell". During 2009, President Barack Obama advocated a policy change to allow gay personnel to serve openly in the armed forces, agreeing with General Shalikashvili and stating that the U.S. government has spent millions of dollars replacing troops expelled from the military, including language experts fluent in Arabic.

19 days after his election, Obama's advisers announced that plans to repeal the policy may be delayed until as late as 2010, because Obama "first wants to confer with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and his new political appointees at the Pentagon to reach a consensus, and then present legislation to Congress."

Obama's current position is that Congress has exclusive authority to change the law. In May 2009, a committee of military law experts at the University of California at Santa Barbara concluded that the President can issue an Executive Order to suspend homosexual conduct discharges."

In July 2009, the White House and other Democrats reportedly pressured Florida Rep. Alcee Hastings to withdraw an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (USBill|111|H.R.|2647) that would have prevented the military from using federal funds to expel gay servicemembers.

President Obama's Justice Department continues to defend the gay ban in court, citing a "traditional" duty to enforce and defend all laws. Regarding the first reference, the government had argued before the Federal Appeals Court in San Francisco that the policy should have a blanket application, therefore negating a requirement for an expulsion review based on merit. Obama administration lawyers let pass the May 3, 2009 deadline to appeal, and the case reverted to the district court. In court documents, government lawyers agreed with the ruling of the Federal Appeals Court in Boston that DADT is "rationally related to the government's legitimate interest in military discipline and cohesion." An appeal of this case brought by Captain James E. Pietrangelo II, Pietrangelo v. Gates 08-824, was subsequently rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court.

On the eve of the National Equality March in Washington, D.C., October 10, 2009, Barack Obama stated in a speech before the Human Rights Campaign that he will end the ban, but he offered no timetable.

In January 2010, the White House and congressional officials started work on repealing the ban by inserting language into the 2011 defense authorization bill.

During President Obama's State of the Union Address on January 27, 2010, he claimed that he would work with Congress and the military to enact a repeal of the gay ban law. He had made similar statements during other speeches; however, his State of the Union speech was the first in which he definitively committed to repealing the law on a set timetable. In response to President Obama’s State of the Union pledge, the Human Rights Campaign announced the Voices of Honor Campaign to make the President’s call for open military service a reality.

John McCain
Citing a letter signed by “over one thousand former general and flag officers who have weighed in on this issue,” Sen. John McCain of Arizona claimed that “we should pay attention and benefit from the experience and knowledge” of these officers. Sen. McCain read a portion of the letter on February 2, 2010 to the congressional hearing of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Reading directly from the letter, McCain said, “We firmly believe that this law, which congress passed to protect good order, discipline and morale in the unique environment of the armed forces deserves continued support.” Servicemembers United, a veterans' group opposed to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," issued a subsequent report on the letter’s legitimacy. They found that the letter’s signees included officers who had no knowledge of their inclusion, who had refused to be included, and even a number of veterans who had died before the survey was conducted, including one instance of a widow signing the letter under the guise of her husband, who was a former general. The average age of the officers listed in the letter was 74, the oldest was 98, and Servicemembers United noted that “only a small fraction of these officers have even served in the military during the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ period, much less in the 21st century military."

Senator John McCain opposes repeal of the gay ban prior to the completion of the comprehensive policy review ordered by Defense Secretary Gates.

Statistics
In the fiscal years since the policy was first introduced in 1993, the military has discharged over 13,000 troops from the military under DADT. The number of discharges per year under DADT dropped sharply after the September 11 attacks and has remained relatively low since. Discharges exceeded 600 every year until 2009. Statistics on the number of persons discharged per year follow:

* Breakdown of discharges by service branch not available
 * 1994–2003, 2006, 2007 from Servicemembers Legal Defense Network – Annual Gay Discharges Under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue, Don't Harass"
 * 2004–2005 from 365Gay.com – Military Discharging Two Soldiers Per Day For Being Gay Despite War Group Says
 * 2008 from Continued discharges anger 'don't ask, don't tell' critics The Boston Globe, Bryan Bender – May 20, 2009
 * 2000–2002 individual service numbers from Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, "Freedom to Serve"
 * Not accurate numbers of discharges under DADT due to some soldiers not disclosing their discharge. These statistics are only from those who came forward to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

Financial impact of policy
In February 2005, the Government Accountability Office released estimates on the cost of the policy. Cautioning that the amount may be too low, the GAO reported $95.4 million in recruiting costs and $95.1 million for training replacements for the 9,488 troops discharged from 1994 through 2003.

In February 2006, a University of California Blue Ribbon Commission including Lawrence Korb, a former assistant defense secretary during the Reagan administration, former Defense Secretary William Perry, a member of the Clinton administration, and professors from the United States Military Academy at West Point concluded that figure should be closer to $363 million, including $14.3 million for "separation travel" once a service member is discharged, $17.8 million for training officers, $252.4 million for training enlistees and $79.3 million in recruiting costs. The commission report stated that the GAO didn't take into account the value the military lost from the departures.

Military Readiness Enhancement Act
The Military Readiness Enhancement Act is a bill introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives with the stated purpose "to amend title 10, United States Code, to enhance the readiness of the Armed Forces by replacing the current policy concerning homosexuality in the Armed Forces, referred to as 'Don't ask, don't tell,' with a policy of nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation."

Situation outside the United States
Most Western military forces have now removed policies excluding individuals of sexual orientations other than heterosexual (with strict policies on sexual harassment). Of the 26 countries that participate militarily in NATO, more than 22 permit gay people to serve; of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, three (Britain, France, Russia) permit gay people to serve openly, and two (United States, China) do not. Besides Greece, which bans homosexuals from serving, all other members of EU permit gay people to serve openly. The Greek discrimination policy has become the object of criticism by the European Union, as EU law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The Canadian Forces lifted the ban on gay members in 1992. (See LGBT policy in the Canadian military.) In 2009, Argentina, Uruguay and Philippines allowed gay men to serve openly in the military. Israel Defense Forces policies allow gay men and lesbians to serve openly and without discrimination or harassment due to actual or perceived sexual orientation, including special units. Consul David Saranga at the Israeli Consulate in New York City, stated, "It's a non-issue. You can be a very good officer, a creative one, a brave one, and be gay at the same time."