What Will The End of Don't Ask, Don't Tell Achieve? Can one be uncloseted and stll serve?

Does the end of Don't Ask, Don't Tell help Gays and Lesbians in the military; does it mean they can live uncloseted and serve. Or, will they be discharged  as they come out of the closet? This is a sensitive issue about which I realize some people feel very strongly—please remain respectful in commenting.


FROM 

HBO.com

THE STRANGE HISTORY OF DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL

DEBUTS SEPT. 19 AT MIDNIGHT ON HBO,

THE DAY THE LAW’S REPEAL GOES INTO EFFECT

     NEW YORK, Aug. 23, 2011 – This September, the day the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) goes into effect. HBO will tell the strange-but-true tale of the U.S. military’s ban on gays and lesbians from its implementation, through passionate protests and debates, and finally to its 2011 repeal.  A timely and historical look at the legacy of gays and lesbians in the military, THE STRANGE HISTORY OF DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL illustrates the tumultuous evolution of the controversial policy that fostered hate and intolerance within the military – and undermined the very freedoms American forces defend – by forcing many soldiers to lie and live in secrecy.

     

Directed by Emmy® winners Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, THE STRANGE HISTORY OF DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL will have a sneak preview MONDAY, SEPT. 19 (midnight-1:30 a.m. ET/PT) on HBO, followed by the documentary’s first prime-time play Tuesday, Sept. 20 at 8:00 p.m. (ET/PT). Bailey and  Barbato have produced a variety of acclaimed nonfiction programming, including 24 documentaries for HBO and CINEMAX, including “Heidi Fleiss:  The Would-Be Madam of Crystal,”and, most recently, the Emmy®-nominated “Wishful Drinking.”

     In 1993, President Bill Clinton encountered vehement opposition when he tried to deliver on his election promise of lifting a 50-year ban on gays in the military.  The result was the compromise legislation Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, which allowed gays to serve in the military provided they didn’t disclose their sexual orientation.  THE STRANGE HISTORY OF DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL examines the consequences of the policy and the fight to overturn it, a battle that would last 17 years, span three presidencies and result in the discharge of 13,368 active service members.

Image via Wikipedia

Barney Frank

    
Filmed during the final 15 months of the law, THE STRANGE HISTORY OF DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL uses archival news footage, interviews with key players, from policy experts to Pentagon personnel, and personal accounts by a number of actively serving gay soldiers (obscured from the camera because speaking about their sexual orientation violates Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell).  Among the featured subjects are:  Mass. Rep. Barney Frank; Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman; former Pennsylvania  Rep Patrick Murphy, an Iraqi war veteran who played a leading role in the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal; Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach; Col. Margarethe Cammermeyer; Jeh C. Johnson, general counsel of the Department of Defense; and Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN).

     

THE STRANGE HISTORY OF DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL is produced and directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato; supervising producer, Jacqueline Glover; executive producer, Sheila Nevins; producers, Gabriel Rotello and Mona Card; editors, Langdon F. Page, Chris Conway; music by David Benjamin Steinberg.