Thursday, May 4, 2017

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

In late 1993, the Department of Defense Directive 1304.26 was issued by the Clinton Administration. It stated that in the military, homosexuals and bisexuals were protected from discrimination by their military superiors. But it was not entirely positive towards LGBT soldiers; it protected these rights only for closeted soldiers and prohibited open homosexuals or bisexuals from the service. Here's text from the actual directive:

"Homosexual conduct is a homosexual act, a statement by the applicant that demonstrates a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts, or a homosexual marriage or attempted marriage.  Propensity to engage in homosexual acts means more than an abstract preference or desire to engage in homosexual acts; it indicates a likelihood that a person engages in or will engage in homosexual acts."

It's important to understand that their rejection of open gays, lesbians and bisexuals is not defined purely as a rejection of their being open; rather, they frame it as a rejection of those who intend to perform these acts in actuality. The Congressional Research Service framed the issue as one of "unit cohesion;" military servicepeople were effectively barred from the service because the bonds between members of a unit could be damaged by the added complexity of possible homosexual relations. This assumes that a closeted homosexual intended not to ever engage in such conduct -- seemingly the product of confused beliefs about the nature of homosexuality.

A 1998 case, McVeigh vs. Cohen, awarded an officer immunity from the army's decision to remove him on the grounds that they searched a private account to do so. He reached a settlement with the army.

The policy was repealed in 2011 under the Obama Administration - though not after a variety of such cases and efforts of advocacy groups.
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 5, 2017 at 1:00 PM

    This is a very interesting post. The don't ask, don't tell policy is something that has transformed in many ways and can be viewed as a stepping stone for countries to prevent discrimination. However, there is the problem that it is also harmful as it doesn't exactly encourage openness. This is a situation that is very controversial, and it is interesting how you looked at the various policies of this issue.

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  2. AnonymousMay 7, 2017 at 11:00 AM

    This is a very interesting post about the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. The policy was technically illegal under the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which covered sexual orientation as well being an illegal basis of discrimination. However, that part of the Civil Rights Act had been ignored until much more recently under the Obama Administration which made huge steps to promote gay rights (including the repeal of the policy in 2011 and marriage equality in 2014).

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  3. AnonymousMay 7, 2017 at 9:40 PM

    This post made me learn something new about the way American society views homosexuality, especially in the context of military affairs with the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy. However, I'm still left wondering as to how the Obama Administration's repeal of the policy would affect the livelihoods of gay and lesbian soldiers serving in the army?

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