Don't Ask, Don't Tell

The military policy toward homosexuals (gays and lesbians) in the military since 1993. According to the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, if gays and lesbians in the military remain silent about their sexual orientation, their commanders will not try to discover what it is. Those who flaunt or reveal their homosexuality are subject to discharge.

The United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Israel, and most countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have abandoned exclusionary policies toward homosexuals with no deterioration in readiness. Most also implemented strict policies against sexual harassment in the military. The United States, however, has had a policy of excluding homosexuals from the military service for more than half a century.

In November 1992, President-Elect Bill Clinton announced that he intended to lift that ban against gays in the military because he believed that sexual orientation should not bar a person from serving his or her country. Opposition formed immediately, however, including from Joint Chiefs chair Colin Powell and the powerful senator Sam Nunn (Democrat of Georgia), who was chair of the Armed Services Committee.

For six months, debate raged over the issue. Liberals wanted Clinton to lift the ban completely, whereas conservatives opposed such action, fearing the impact on military readiness, morale, and discipline. In July 1993, a compromise was reached—the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. According to the policy, lesbians and gay men could serve if they kept quiet and did not engage in homosexual conduct, and military commanders would not try to find homosexuals within the ranks. Homosexuality in itself would no longer mean an automatic exit from the service.

Clinton said that the compromise would end the witch hunts that had often been conducted against homosexuals in the military. His supporters said that it was the best they could do to preserve readiness while protecting the rights of gays. Although supporters of the policy promised to investigate abuses, advocacy and civil-rights groups were not convinced. In fact, violations of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy increased during the decade after it was implemented.

Opponents of the policy, and of gays serving in the military in general, usually believe that homosexuality is wrong and that allowing gays to serve puts the federal government in a position of endorsing immorality. Society at large has not yet come to terms with its gay minority, they argue, and the military should not be expected to go beyond society, especially because military culture is so much more conservative. The counterargument is that the army managed to integrate African Americans into its ranks when society was not yet prepared to do so.

Discharges of gays from the military rose almost every year of the Clinton administration. In 1994 the total discharged was 617, and by 2000 the number doubled to 1,231. More received honorable discharges than was the case prior to the policy. Nevertheless, between 1994 and 2001, more than 7,800 men and women were discharged for revealing their sexual preference. The cost of recruiting and retraining replacements for the thousands discharged has been estimated to be more than $200 million.

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