The Strange History of Don't Ask, Don't Tell

There was a long standing ban in the American military. Gay and lesbian soldiers were kept from serving. In 1992 Bill Clinton said he would lift it. What came out of it was a compromise. The compromise was called Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. The rule took effect in 1993. Under it nobody was to ask. Soldiers were not to speak about themselves. Being there depended on staying silent. The documentary tells the history of that rule. It was repealed in 2011. By then more than thirteen thousand people had been discharged. Carl Levin and John McCain speak in the film. So do Gore Vidal and Joe Lieberman. Filming began two years before it aired. Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato made the eighty five minute film, an American production finished in 2011.