Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Story Project
At the Center, we hear many stories. Some depict challenges, injustice and discrimination and others are uplifting and inspiring. Since 1993, the Center’s heard stories from members of our community about how our military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ (DADT) policy resulted in 13,000 gay, lesbian and bisexual people discharged from the military. This policy required LGBT military service members to keep their orientation secret in order to continue serving in the military.
The time to repeal DADT is now! As military officials begin sharing their stories and the press reports the antiquated policy’s impact, it is time for us to be heard. The Associated Press reported that, Adm. Mike Mullen, “The military’s top uniformed officer [...] made an impassioned plea for allowing gays to serve openly in uniform, telling a Senate panel it was a matter of integrity and that it is wrong to force people to ”lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens.”
We are inspired by NY Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s project, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Stories and her call for hearings to repeal #DADT in the senate. She started her new website because she “thought that the more stories we could bring to bear into the public discourse, [the more] it will move this debate forward to a place where we will earn the 60 votes we need to repeal it.”
We encourage you to get involved by visiting the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Stories Project, sharing your story and signing their petition.
For more information about other campaigns to overturn DADT, please visit Human Rights Campaign.
Update – February 12, 2010
Please read my interview with The Women’s Media Center Just Not Married: Fighting for Equality on Valentine’s Day.
Glennda Testone
