Hofstra Labor and Employment Law Journal Volume 21 | Issue 2 Article 3 2004 A Ban by Any Other Name: Ten Years of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Sharon E. Debbage Alexander Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/hlelj Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Debbage Alexander, Sharon E. (2004) "A Ban by Any Other Name: Ten Years of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"," Hofstra Labor and Employment Law Journal: Vol. 21: Iss. 2, Article 3. Available at: http://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/hlelj/vol21/iss2/3 This document is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarly Commons at Hofstra Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hofstra Labor and Employment Law Journal by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons at Hofstra Law. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Debbage Alexander: A Ban by Any Other Name: Ten Years of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" A BAN BY ANY OTHER NAME: TEN YEARS OF "DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL" Sharon E. Debbage Alexander* I. INTRODUCTION November 30, 2003 marked the ten-year anniversary of the current law banning military service by lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals, commonly known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."' Since 1993, over 10,000 service members have been discharged from the Armed Forces under the law.2 Personnel discharged under the policy include representatives from virtually every specialty in every branch of the service. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" deprives the United States of the skills of thousands of peo- ple trained at taxpayers' expense to fill critical military needs for doc- tors, linguists, intelligence officers, submariners, and scores of other skill sets.