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Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, that’s been the official U.S. military policy on Gays and Lesbians in the military since 1993, when it was first adopted by the Clinton Administration. Since then the policy has been criticized for taking an ambivalent stance on a serious civil rights issue. An estimated 13,500 service members have been fired under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell since 1994. High hopes for a swift repeal of the policy were pinned on the Obama presidency. Even though the President has come out against it, Congress has been slow to act. On May 27th the House voted to repeal the policy, but the Senate has not introduced the topic for debate. Yesterday opening arguments were made in a legal challenge with a surprising twist in the case of Log Cabin Republican vs. United States of America. The Gay and Lesbian Republican advocacy group, is suing the Democratically controlled U.S. government charging that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell violates the constitutional protections afforded to free speech and due process. Litigation began six years ago, during the Bush administration. The Government repeatedly challenged the legal standing for the suit, but ultimately lost and it will now have to defend a policy that the current Administration has publicly stated it does not support.

GUEST: Zoe Dunning, Retired Navy Commander, served 13 years in the military as a openly gay woman.

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