Don't+ask+Don't+Tell

**“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t pursue” (DADT) ** is a term used for the United States Military policy on homosexuality, which prevents the inquiry of a service members sexual orientation, but still bans members who are openly gay, lesbian or bisexual. The policy was implemented during the Clinton administration in 1993 as a compromise to the previous bans on homosexuals in the military all together. Service members can still be discharged from the military if “the member has engaged in, attempted to engage in, or solicited another to engage in a homosexual act or acts…” or “That the member has stated that he or she is a homosexual or bisexual, or words to that effect…” (United States Code: Title 10 section 654). Homosexual service members are restricted from discussing their sexual orientation, or their homosexual relationships of any nature. If a homosexual service member violates these rules they are subject to discharge from the military, an important note, if it is determined that a service member has violated these rules in order to avoid duty, the service member will not be discharged. DADT also requires that superiors do not inquire on the sexual orientation of service members if there is no evidence to back up such a claim. Gay, lesbian, and bisexual activists were not happy with the current military policy on homosexuality, and pressures only grew with the murder of Navy radioman Allen R Schindler Jr. ** Allen R Schindler Jr. ** 
 * DON’T ASK DON’T TELL **

llen Schindler Jr. was a navy man who was murdered by Terry Helvey and Charles Vins on a navy base in Japan on October 27, 1992. Schindler was coming near to discharge after telling an officer of his homosexual orientation. Helvey and Vins had trapped Schindler in a bathroom and repeatedly kicked and stomped his face, chest and abdomen. “He was so disfigured by the beating that his mother said she was able to recognize him only by the tattoos on his arms” (The New York Times). The murder of Allen Schindler sparked outrage from the gay community about the current military policy, which pushed along the Clinton administration to implement a new policy, eventually resulting in DADT. **Background/origin ** Many people, including former president Ronald Reagan believe that homosexuality compromises the military unit as a whole. In 1982, A defense directive from Ronald Reagan stated that “homosexuality is incompatible with military service” (The Washington Post). Further, a section of the United States Code state that **“ **The presence in the armed forces of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability.” (United States Code: Title 10 section 654).  This issue had grown to become a major part of the Clintons campaign in the 1992 presidential election, and was one of the first issues addressed after Clinton took office. After butting heads with conservatives, the Clinton administration eventually released their “don’t ask don’t tell” policy. This policy essentially allowed closeted homosexual and bisexuals to remain in the military if they kept all parts of their sexual orientation and relationships unknown to the rest of the military. Further nobody was permitted to inquire on the sexual orientation of any service member without some sort of probable cause. Clinton later goes on to say "I accepted it because it was better than an absolute ban…I was promised it would be better than it was” (CBS News, 2010). The DADT policy was written to play as a compromise between the conservative and liberal groups. However, after the policy revealed, Liberals and gays did not respond approvingly to the new policy and felt cheated by the Clinton administration.

** Repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell **  In the 2008 presidential election campaigns, Senator Barack Obama made it a key point of his campaign to change the laws that currently ban openly homosexual persons for remaining or joining the military. Obama made a number of points against the DADT policy, he stated “I think there's increasing recognition within the Armed Forces that this is a counterproductive strategy," and "We're spending large sums of money to kick highly qualified gays or lesbians out of our military, some of whom possess specialties like Arab-language capabilities that we desperately need. That doesn't make us more safe" (MSNBC, 2008). On December 16th the House of Representatives voted on a bill to repeal DADT which passed, 250-175. Two days later the senate held their vote which had also passed, 65-31. (Huffington post, 2010) On December 22nd of 2010 President Barack Obama signed the DADT repeal. The repeal now has to be sent to the Pentagon, which “has an 87-page implementation plan for the repeal of ‘don't ask, don't tell.’” (CNN Politics, 2010). After signing the repeal Obama stated “ By ending 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' no longer will our nation be denied the service of thousands of patriotic Americans forced to leave the military, despite years of exemplary performance, because they happen to be gay, and no longer will many thousands more be asked to live a lie in order to serve the country they love" (Huffington Post, 2010). A survey was sent to 100,000 service members about the idea of the repeal, which received very positive reviews. 70 percent of service members said that they would still fight next to a person that they knew was of a homosexual or bisexual orientation, further, 69 percent already knew somebody that they suspected was of homosexual or bisexual orientation. <span style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;">**Clinton on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell** <span style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;"> In an interview with Katie Couric in Septemeber of 2010, Former president Bill Clinton said that his original idea for Don’t Ask Don’t Tell did not become what he originally wanted it to be. He stated that “ when Colin Powell sold me on don't ask, don't tell, here's what he said it would be. Gay service members would never get in trouble for going to gay bars, marching in gay rights parades as long as they weren't in uniform that was what they were promised. That's a very different don't ask, don't tell than we got” (CBS News, 2010). After the retirement of Colin Powel from the military the policy was revised multiple times until it became what it is now. Clinton said that he had accepted it because he thought it was a better alternative to what was currently in place from the Reagan administration.

<span style="color: black; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;">Dan Farber. (September 22, 2010). Bill Clinton: Colin Powell Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy Fell Short. In //CBS News//. Retrieved April 3, 2011, from <span style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;">[|CBS News]. <span style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;"> Elise Foley. (December 18, 2010). Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Passes Senate 65-31. In //T////he Washington Post//. Retrieved April 3, 2011, from [|Huffington Post] <span style="color: black; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;">James Sterngold. (February 4, 1993). Navy Plans Murder Charge in Death of Gay Sailor. In //The New York Times//. Retrieved April 3, 2011, from <span style="color: black; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;">[|The New York Times] <span style="color: black; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;">Mary Kate Cannistra et al. (November 30, 2010). A history of 'don't ask, don't tell'. In //T////he Washington Post//. Retrieved April 4, 2011, from [|The Washington Post] <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">undefined. (February 1, 2010). U.S. Code. In //Cornell University Law School//. Retrieved April 1, 2011, from[|The University of Cornell Law School] <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Undefined. (April 10, 2008) Obama: Repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ possible. In //MSNBC News.// Retrieved April 3, 2011. From [|MSNBC]