SLDN Reports: Conduct Unbecoming: The 2nd Annual Report on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue”
by Michelle Benecke & Dixon Osburn
In its second annual report on the impact of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue" policy, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) reveals a continuing pattern of abuse that has effectively rendered the current policy as bad as, if not worse than, its predecessors. Many military members clearly continue to ask, pursue and harass suspected gay troops in blatant disregard of the policy's limits. From March 1, 1995 - February 27, 1996, SLDN documented 363 specific violations of the current policy. The result, in part, is that the Department of Defense (DOD) discharged more servicemembers under its gay policy in fiscal year 1995 than in each of the past four years at a cost exceeding $21 million in 1995.
