ABSTRACT
Between 1994 and 2010, the United States government adopted a specific policy when dealing with LGBT staff serving, or wishing to serve, in the armed forces. Known as ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ (DADT), this policy allowed lesbians, gay men and bisexual people to serve in the US military providing they were not open or explicit about their sexual identity. This was the result of a conflict between the election promises of President Clinton and the beliefs of US military leaders, who claimed that serving homosexuals would be detrimental to the morale of the Armed Forces. 1 To appease his supporters, Clinton prohibited the harassment of homosexual and bisexual service personnel by their peers and commanding officers. To appease the military hawks, he created a piece of legislation that allowed the military to get rid of anyone who openly expressed their homo- or bisexuality.
