Don T Tell Policy

The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy was enacted into law in 1993 until 2011. The official policy of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was located at 10 U.S.C. § 654. The act dealt with homosexuality in the military. The act had three main provisions from which an individual serving in the military could be discharged. One of the provisions was that an individual in the military that was proven to have or attempted to engage in homosexual actions would have to be discharged. A second provision was that an individual in the military could face discharge if the individual admitted to being of a sexual orientation, specifically within LGBT. One other provision dealt with discharge if proven that an individual in the military was in or attempted to be in a homosexual …show more content…
In the case of Log Cabin Republicans v. United States, it was demonstrated that the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy interfered with the rights of LGBT individuals in the military. Many of the rights violated were in accordance with the First Amendment and Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteen Amendment. Some of the main rights that relate to the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy are freedom of speech, freedom of petition, and equality. Especially, the right of freedom of speech, which can also translate into the right of freedom of expression, extends into the liberty of privacy. The private matters of homosexuals were discussed in the case of Lawrence v. Texas, where the court concluded that sexual activities conducted in private, even by a couple of the same sex, is a liberty protected by the …show more content…
United States was that the act did not have a significant impact in the interests of readiness and cohesion within the military. Testimonies in the case of Log Cabin Republicans v. United States demonstrated that some of the individuals discharged were well qualified if not more qualified in their specialties. Many of them received awards and held exceptional positions. For example, Jenny Kopfstein received the Surface Warfare Officer pin, had the opportunity to compete while being in control of the USS Shiloh, received the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, and many more honors (Log Cabin of Republicans v. United States, 2010). Further, there was no concrete numbers or evidence that proved that being homosexual would disrupt the way task were handled. Overall, the sexual orientation of the individuals (i.e. being homosexual) did not interfere with the quality of work they did; therefore, they should have been afforded equal