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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.
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