Some of you smart fabulosos know that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (hereafter DADT) was an executive order signed by President Bill Clinton in 1993. This makes it puzzling that it requires an act of Congress to get it repealed. Well, here is the full explanation on all that:

We are not repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. We are repealing the regulations and restrictions that made DADT necessary in the first place. These started in the First World War, when gay soldiers were issued a “blue discharge,” which was neither honorable nor dishonorable. Later in the century, the military discharged known homosexuals with what was called an “undersirable discharge.” If they were found to have engaged in any sort of homosexual acts, they received a dishonorable discharge. This was despite a 1957 Navy report that found that gay-identified people were no more likely to be a security risk than heterosexual-identified people, and found there was no rational basis for excluding gay people from the Navy. The military continued the policy due to what they called “social mores.”

In the 1970′s the Department of Defense tightened policy to completely exclude gays from the military with the infamous justification “homosexuality is incompatible with military service.”

These policies have been written into Title 10 of the United States Code – which outlines the roles of the armed forces. It requires an act of Congress to change this code.

So, we are trying to change that code. Currently, the Military Readiness Enhancement Act is working its way through Congress and is expected to pass. This will rewrite Title 10 to include language that is non-discriminatory relative to one’s sexual orientation and military service. When this passes, the DADT policy will immediately become irrelevant. President Obama has announced his intention to sign the Bill when it comes to him.

Wikipedia Hot Links:

List of nations allowing gays to serve openly.

Military Readiness Enhancement Act.

LGBT Policy in the US Miltary.

Tags: DADT