Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Congress governs the United States Armed Forces by writing laws for the Department of Defense (DoD) to implement. In 1993, Congress passed a federal law banning homosexuality in the armed forces. The DoD created a policy to implement the law, but the language of this policy allows homosexuality in the armed forces provided it be kept silent and a person does not act out on his/her homosexual preferences. For the past sixteen years, some aspects of the law and the DoD policy have been in conflict; yet many persons inside and outside the military do not realize this. The term "Don't ask, don't tell" emerged during the development of the DoD policy designed to implement the federal statute. Many persons mistakenly combine both the law and DoD policy under this header. The two documents are similar in some respects, but quite different in others. The law does not restrict a person from being questioned about his/her homosexuality; therefore, it does not actually have a "don't ask" portion. The law, like the DoD policy, does have a "don't tell" portion; but only the DoD policy contains a "don't ask" portion. Since it appears likely that the Obama Administration will face the contentious issue of homosexuality and the military, it behooves all who have an interest in the debate to realize the differences in the language and the policies in order to speak intelligently about the issues and propose solutions that are logical and in consonance with their true beliefs and opinions on this very contentious issue.