“The policy is an absurdity and borderline on being an obscenity. What it does is cause people to ask of themselves that they lie to themselves, that they pretend to be something that they are not. There is no empirical evidence that would indicate that it affects military cohesion. There is a lot of evidence to say that the biases of the past have been layered onto the United States Army.”

Iraq War Veteran and U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, challenging a witness during “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” hearings in the U.S. House:

“You’re basically asserting that straight men and women in our military aren’t professional enough to serve openly with gay troops while completing their military missions. You know as a former Army officer I can tell you I think that’s an insult to me and to many of the soldiers. To answer your question, Mr. Jones, it was 24 countries that allow military personnel to serve openly without any detrimental impact on unit cohesion.”

SLDN is a national, non-profit legal services, watchdog and policy organization dedicated to ending discrimination against and harassment of military personnel affected by “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and related forms of intolerance.

Goals for Freedom

Lift the ban preventing gays, lesbians and bisexuals from serving openly and honestly in the military.

Provide free legal services to service members harmed by “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and related, discriminatory policies.

Protect service members from harassment based on perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.

Advocate for policies and practices that improve the lives of service members.

Support service member and veteran pride as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender persons.

Strengthen organizational capacity to assure the freedom to serve in the most cost-effective, strategic fashion.

Legal help for those who serve or have served:

SLDN provides free legal counseling to service members with legal issues stemming from or related to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law banning military service by lesbian, gay, and bisexual persons, the regulations governing military service by HIV+ people, and the regulations addressing military service by transgender persons.

To schedule a phone consultation with an attorney, please use the form below. If you do not wish to use the form, please call 202-328-3244 x 100 or email legal@sldn.org.

Please be aware that if you are using a government computer or server, the information you provide may be monitored. For more information go to www.sldn.org.