A Pen Stroke for Equality: The End of Don't Ask, Don't Tell
On December 22, 2010, President Barack Obama signed the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' ending the ban on openly gay service in the U.S. military.
"No longer will tens of thousands of Americans in uniform be asked to live a lie, or look over their shoulder, in order to serve the country that they love." With those words, President Barack Obama signed the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 on the morning of December 22, 2010.
The policy had been in place since 1993, a compromise under President Bill Clinton. Gay, lesbian, and bisexual Americans could serve in the armed forces - but only if they kept their orientation secret. If the military learned of it, they were discharged. Over seventeen years, thousands of service members lost their careers.
The repeal moved fast at the end. The House passed it 250-175 on December 15; the Senate followed 65-31 on December 18; and four days later Obama signed it in Washington, surrounded by lawmakers, veterans, and several former service members who had been discharged under the old rule.
At the signing, Obama told the story of Private Lloyd Corwin, who in the Battle of the Bulge fell into a ravine and was saved by a fellow soldier who risked his life to climb down after him. Forty years later, Corwin learned his rescuer, Andy Lee, was gay. "He had no idea, and he didn't much care," Obama said. "He knew what had kept him alive."
Even then, the old rule did not vanish overnight. The repeal act required the president, the defense secretary, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs to certify that the military was ready for the change - a deliberate pause meant to let the Pentagon prepare training and new regulations. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said planning for an orderly repeal would begin right away. Several former service members who had been discharged under the old policy attended the ceremony, and Obama commended their efforts in bringing about the change.
That certification came on July 22, 2011, and the ban ended sixty days later, on September 20, 2011.
"We are not a nation that says, 'Don't ask, don't tell,'" Obama said that morning. "We are a nation that says, 'Out of many, we are one.' ... Those are the ideals that generations have fought for."
Why it matters: for the first time, gay and lesbian Americans could serve openly in the U.S. military. The repeal proved that a fighting force's strength comes from integrity and cohesion, not secrecy - and that a promise of equality, once made, is hard to take back.
Photo: Chuck Kennedy (White House photographer), public domain (via Wikimedia Commons).
