Background
1993: Public Law 103-160 (10 U.S.C. §654), signed November 30, 1993, mandates “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT), a new policy for all individuals on military service. The policy emerged as a compromise after President Clinton encountered opposition to his campaign promise to end the military ban on homosexuals.
1993: “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) became the official United States policy on military service by gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals under Department of Defense Directive 1304.26 December 21, 1993.
1994 to 2011: “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) is the official policy from February 28, 1994, until September 20, 2011. DADT prohibited military personnel from discriminating against closeted homosexual or bisexual service members while barring openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual persons from military service. Over 13,000 service members were discharged under DADT before its repeal.
Primary Legal Documents
Aspin, L. (1993, July 19). Policy on homosexual conduct in the Armed Forces [Memorandum]. Department of Defense.
Department of Defense. (1993, December 21). DOD Directive 1304.26: Qualification standards for enlistment, appointment, and induction.
Department of Defense. (1993, December 21). DOD Directive 1332.14: Enlisted administrative separations.
Public Law 103-160. (1993, November 30). National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994, § 571 (codified at 10 U.S.C. § 654).
Public Law 111-321. (2010, December 22). Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010. 124 Stat. 3515.
Congressional Documents
Joint Chiefs of Staff. (2011). Repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: Shaping the policy and implementing the repeal. Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joint History Office. https://www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/Documents/History/Dec21/SHS_15_Repealing_DADT.pdf
U.S. Congress, House of Representatives. (2010). H.R. 2965 – Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010, 111th Congress. https://www.congress.gov/bill/111th-congress/house-bill/2965
U.S. Department of Defense. (2010). Report of the Comprehensive Review of the Issues Associated with a Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Department of Defense Comprehensive Review Working Group. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-111shrg65073/pdf/CHRG-111shrg65073.pdf
U.S. General Accounting Office. (1993). Defense force management: DOD’s policy on homosexuality (GAO/NSIAD-93-215). https://www.gao.gov/products/nsiad-93-215
U.S. Government Accountability Office. (2005). Military personnel: Financial costs and loss of critical skills due to DOD’s homosexual conduct policy cannot be completely estimated (GAO-05-299). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-05-299/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-05-299.pdf
U.S. Government Accountability Office. (2011). Military personnel: DOD’s and Coast Guard’s sexual orientation policies and efforts to track separations, FY2004-2009 (GAO-11-170). https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-24-106436.pdf
Academic and Scholarly Sources
Books
Belkin, A., & Bateman, G. (Eds.). (2003). Don’t ask, don’t tell: Debating the gay ban in the military. Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Belkin, A. (2012). Bring me men: Military masculinity and the benign façade of American empire, 1898-2001. Columbia University Press.
Bérubé, A. (1990). Coming out under fire: The history of gay men and women in World War Two. Free Press.
Frank, N. (2009). Unfriendly fire: How the gay ban undermines the military and weakens America. Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press.
Halley, J. E. (1999). Don’t: A reader’s guide to the military’s anti-gay policy. Duke University Press.
Herek, G. M., Jobe, J. B., & Carney, R. M. (Eds.). (1996). Out in force: Sexual orientation and the military. University of Chicago Press.
Osburn, C. D. (2021). Mission possible: The story of repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’. Sidekick Press.
Scott, W. J., & Stanley, S. C. (Eds.). (1994). Gays and lesbians in the military: Issues, concerns, and contrasts. Aldine de Gruyter.
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. (2004). Conduct unbecoming: The tenth annual report on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue, Don’t Harass”. Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.
Shilts, R. (1993). Conduct unbecoming: Gays & lesbians in the U.S. military. St. Martin’s Press.
Scholarly Articles
Belkin, A., & Levitt, M. (2001). Homosexuality and the Israel Defense Forces: Did lifting the gay ban undermine military performance? Armed Forces & Society, 27(4), 541-565. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X0102700403
Belkin, A., Ender, M. G., Frank, N., Furia, S. R., Lucas, G. R., Packard, G., Schultz, T. S., Samuels, S. M., & Segal, D. R. (2013). Readiness and DADT repeal: Has the new policy of open service undermined the military? Armed Forces & Society, 39(4), 587-601. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X12466248
Herek, G. M., & Belkin, A. (2006). Sexual orientation and military service: Prospects for organizational and individual change in the United States. In T. W. Britt, A. B. Adler, & C. A. Castro (Eds.), Military life: The psychology of serving in peace and combat (Vol. 4, pp. 119-142). Praeger Security International. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2006-01728-007
Kier, E. (1998). Homosexuals in the U.S. military: Open integration and combat effectiveness. International Security, 23(2), 5-39. https://doi.org/10.1162/isec.23.2.5
National Defense Research Institute. (2010). Sexual orientation and U.S. military personnel policy: An update of RAND’s 1993 study (MG-1056-OSD). RAND Corporation. https://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG1056.html
Rostker, B. D., Hosek, S. D., & Vaiana, M. E. (1993). Sexual orientation and U.S. military personnel policy: Options and assessment. RAND Corporation. https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR323.html
Journalistic and News Sources
Bumiller, E. (2010, December 3). Service chiefs tell panel of risks to ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ repeal.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/04/us/politics/04military.html
Bumiller, E. (2011, July 07). Obama ends ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/23/us/23military.html
Dao, J. (2010, November 30). Pentagon report backs allowing gays in military. The New York Times.
Frank, N. (2010, December 23). Gays in the military: New facts conquer old taboos. RAND Blog. https://www.rand.org/pubs/articles/2011/gays-in-the-military-new-facts-conquer-old-taboos.html
Goldberg, S. (2021, September 23). Recalling the struggle to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ Washington Blade. https://www.washingtonblade.com/2021/09/23/recalling-the-struggle-to-repeal-dont-ask-dont-tell/
Human Rights Watch. (2003). Uniform discrimination: The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy of the U.S. military. https://www.hrw.org/report/2003/01/06/uniform-discrimination/dont-ask-dont-tell-policy-us-military
Kaplan, F. (1993, January 29). The Pentagon’s gay policy. The Washington Post.
Rostker, B. (2012, September 20). A year after repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. RAND Blog. https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2012/09/a-year-after-repeal-of-dont-ask-dont-tell.html
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. (2003). Survival guide: A comprehensive guide to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue, Don’t Harass” (4th ed.).
The Spokesman-Review. (2023, July 18). The beginning and the end of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2023/jul/18/the-beginning-and-the-end-of-dont-ask-dont-tell/
Government Archives and Digital Collections
Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military / Palm Center. (2006). Financial analysis of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”: How much does the gay ban cost? University of California, Santa Barbara.
Library of Congress. (n.d.). Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) / OutServe-SLDN. https://www.loc.gov/item/lcwaN0004853/
Log Cabin Republicans v. United States, 658 F.3d 1162 (9th Cir. 2011). https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2011/09/29/10-56634.pdf
Stanford Law School. (2020). Don’t Ask. Don’t Tell. Don’t Pursue: A LibGuide. https://guides.law.stanford.edu/DADT
U.S. Congressional Research Service. (2009). “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”: Military policy and the law on same-sex behavior (R40782). https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/R40782.html
U.S. Congressional Research Service. (2010). “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”: A legal analysis (R40795). https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA545799
U.S. Department of Defense. (1994). Dignity & respect: A training guide on homosexual policy. Department of the Army. https://archive.org/details/DignityRespectADepartmentOfDefenseTrainingGuideOnHomosexualConductPolicy