Don't Ask, Don't Tell

In 1993, Bill Clinton signed the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) law that lifted a ban on homosexuals serving in the military that had been instituted during World War II. Under DADT, homosexuals serving in the military were not allowed to talk about their sexual orientation, and their commanding officers were not allowed to ask them about their sexual orientation either. However, many gay rights activists saw this act as repressive, as it forced soldiers to hide who they were. The act also prevented people from fully accepting homosexuality. DADT actually increased the number of discharges from the military, as well as the number of homophobic assaults by fellow soldiers.

In 1999, soldier Barry Winchell was killed in his sleep with a baseball bat by Calvin Glover, a member of his unit. Even though Glover was sentenced to a lifetime in prison, a report by the Army Inspector General exonerated all officers of blame in Winchell's murder and found no evidence of homophobia in the army base where Winchell was beaten to death. Winchell's murder represented a turning point in DADT. Clinton himself labeled the policy as a failure. In the Democratic primary of 2000, Al Gore and Bill Bradley both promised to reverse the bill if they were elected. The Republicans on the other hand, sought to keep the bill and even go so far as to ban gays and lesbians from the military completely.

Then, in 2001, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacked. The resulting War on Terror that Bush declared created a growing need for more military personnel. However, in 2003, Arabic translators were discharged from the army when they came out. According to a poll by Gallup, 79% of US voters were in favor of allowing gay men and women to openly serve.

By 2008, more than 12,000 officers had been discharged from the military for refusing to hide their sexual orientation. When Barack Obama campaigned for the presidency, he vowed to overturn the DADT policy. In 2010, Congress pledged to repeal DADT after a Pentagon study and the approval of the president. Many believed that the Pentagon study would violate the First and Fifth Amendments, but after a lot of filibustering, DADT was finally repealed in 2011.

The rising acceptance of gays and lesbians in the military as a result of a major conflict is similar to the position of black soldiers during World War II. Up until that point, black and white soldiers had been segregated, and the blacks were often given noncombat and menial jobs. During World War II however, the actions of all-black squadrons like the Tuskegee Airmen led to a new found appreciation and acceptance of black soldiers. Truman then passed Executive Order 9981, which was issued a few months before the 1948 election. Executive Order 9981 allowed for racial desegregation, ending the separation of blacks from whites that had been in place since the Civil War.

Sources:
http://psc.dss.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/HTML/military_history.html
http://www.britannica.com/event/Dont-Ask-Dont-Tell
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/10/the-awkward-clinton-era-debate-over-dont-ask-dont-tell/381374/