"Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

Currently, a civilian law passed by the United States Congress, commonly known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," is the most powerful restraint on gay men and lesbians in the military. Passed in 1993, it continues the long-standing United States military tradition of prohibiting homosexuality, even as it attempts to appear more tolerant. The reality is that as of 2000, the annual number of gay and lesbian discharges has risen to roughly 1200, considerably more than was the case before the adoption of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

Sponsor Message.

Even though "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is now the law under which most gay men and lesbians are expelled from the military, the military also uses Article 125—the law against sodomy--to justify the policies and procedures that ban 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These recent studies suggest that military law with regard to homosexuality is an outdated relic that persists because it bolsters the anti-gay prejudice that military leaders deem necessary for the military to operate effectively.

The policies excluding homosexuals from service in the military have been criticized on a number of grounds. Rather than preserving group cohesion, the policy, critics say, actually promotes divisiveness. Moreover, it is an expensive policy that promotes a hostile working environment, wastes crucial resources on unnecessary investigations, and forces 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 continue to serve in the U. S. military, as they always have done, often with distinction. As many scholars and critics of these laws and regulations have argued, the lives of gay and lesbian military personnel and the military itself would be decidedly improved were the military to abandon the outmoded policies and 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.

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 since 1993, was a compromise intended to end discrimination against gay men and lesbians in the U. S. military, but it has 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.