"Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

Acivilian law passed by the United States Congress, commonly known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," was the most powerful restraint on gay men and lesbians in the military from its passage in 1993 until its repeal in 2011. When it was passed, it continued the long-standing United States military tradition of prohibiting homosexuality, even as it attempted to appear more tolerant. The reality was that as of 2000, the annual number of gay and lesbian discharges rose to roughly 1200, considerably more than was the case before the adoption of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

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Even though "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was the law under which most gay men and lesbians were expelled from the military in the years from 1993 until 2011, the military also used Article 125—the law against sodomy--to justify the policies and procedures that banned gay and lesbian service members. Yet as Margot Canaday concluded in her study of the impact of such laws on policies toward homosexuals, "The notion that sodomy statutes somehow support the ban on homosexual personnel in the military is erroneous."

Using three case studies, including the Australian Defense Force, the South African Defense Forces, and the Miami Beach Police Department, she found that these organization successfully lifted bans on homosexual personnel while sodomy laws remained in existence.

Critiques of the Policy

These recent studies suggest that military laws with regard to homosexuality were outdated relics that persisted because they bolstered the anti-gay prejudice that military leaders deemed necessary for the military to operate effectively.

The policies that excluded homosexuals from service in the military have been criticized on a number of grounds. Rather than preserving group cohesion, the policy, critics say, actually promoted divisiveness. Moreover, it proved to be an expensive policy that promoted a hostile working environment, wasted crucial resources on unnecessary investigations, and forced many qualified service members to leave the military, depriving the services of many needed talents.

In spite of the laws and regulations prohibiting homosexual conduct and homosexual personnel, gay men and lesbians continued to serve in the U. S. military, as they always have done, often with distinction. As many scholars and critics of those laws and regulations have argued, the lives of gay and lesbian military personnel and the military itself are likely to be decidedly improved now that the military has abandoned the outmoded policies and committed itself to promote tolerance in its ranks.

Attitudes toward gay and lesbian personnel in European militaries vary widely, from the acceptance of the Dutch to the laissez-faire policy of the French to the rejection of the Greek and Turkish forces.

The United States military's relation to homosexuality is complex and contradictory, defining itself explicitly in opposition to homosexuality, but nevertheless facilitating the very behavior and identity it seeks to exclude.

For more than four decades, the ACLU has been at the forefront of litigation and education designed to secure glbtq rights on a variety of fronts.

Long active in the glbtq community, Miriam Ben-Shalom was the first gay or lesbian servicemember to be reinstated to her position in the United States military after being discharged for her sexual orientation.

Two of the most significant Supreme Court decisions regarding constitutional liberty for glbtq people are Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) and Lawrence v. Texas (2003).

The highest-ranking official in the United States military to acknowledge her homosexuality while in the service, Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer served a number of years in the Washington State National Guard as an open lesbian.

The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, in effect from 1993 until 2011, was a compromise intended to end discrimination against gay men and lesbians in the U. S. military, but it failed to halt discharges based solely on sexual orientation.

By challenging the United States Air Force's ban and gay and lesbian service members, Leonard P. Matlovich, Jr. became one of the glbtq community's most visible activists in the 1970s.

Romer v. Evans (1996) marks the first time in its history that the U. S. Supreme Court recognized lesbians and gay men as worthy and deserving of equal rights.