Though many believe some of the greatest military leaders of all time - from Alexander the Great to Julius Caesar - have engaged in sex acts with other males, and though certainly a very different political climate from that of ancient Greece or Rome, the United States military has historically never accepted homosexual sex acts within its own military, nor has the United States military accepted open homosexuals either until recently. This thesis focuses on the evolution of United States military policy towards homosexuals and the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) policy of the United States military in order to recommend a path that the United States can follow to provide an equal opportunity for success of openly homosexual service members. This research traces the history of policy towards homosexuality in the United States military up through the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and its repeal. This research discusses changing governmental policies towards homosexuals in the military, as well as changing public opinions about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". This research also outlines discharges under the policy, connecting changing public opinion to the policy's eventual repeal. Through the analysis of statistics surrounding discharges, opinion surveys, and anecdotal evidence, this research evaluates the level of acceptance for openly homosexual service members in a post-DADT world. These findings will then be compared with the adjustment of troops in Great Britain and Canada, who each have experienced relative success in the integration of homosexual troops, in order to make a recommendation for a course of action that the United States could take in order to help better the adjustment of soldiers to a non-exclusionary policy.

Master of Arts / Department of Communications Studies / Timothy R. Steffensmeier / The military operates through a system of gender and sexuality hierarchies that privilege masculinity and heterosexuality as the ideal category of service member. This symbolic national institution is also conceptually tied to notions of citizenship. For marginalized groups, gaining the ability to freely enlist in the military represents a benchmark toward achieving full and equal status as political subjects. Such has been the case for the mainstream lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights movement. For much of the past century, military discourses have aided in rhetorically constructing homosexual identities as pathological, deviant, and unfit to serve in the armed forces. A recent shift in this rhetoric from Department of Defense (DoD) officials, which contributed to a repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, calls into question how changing discourses about gay and lesbian service members rhetorically construct queer citizenship. To answer this question, theories of gender and sexuality performance, corporeal rhetoric, and critical security discourse inform an analysis of the Report of the Comprehensive Review of the Issues Associated with a Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, a DoD document assessing potential risks to the military upon repeal. The analysis reveals that despite assertions made in the document that open service by gay men and lesbians poses minimal threat, this claim is ultimately grounded in the presumption that institutional hegemony adequately constrains performative possibilities for LGB identity articulation.

Thesis advisor: Penelope Ismay / In this thesis, I examine the history of the U.S. military’s stance on homosexual and bisexual service personnel and the political and cultural influences that changed this stance. Even though the military held a largely anti-homosexual attitude for much of its history, it was only during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s that the military declared itself as antigay. At the same time, the American public attempted to address the epidemic in terms of both public health and civil rights. The public chose to protect the gay community’s civil rights, so the military had to follow suit. President Bill Clinton created “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” as a compromise between the alleged military needs and pubic demands. Paradoxically, this policy actually increased discharges of homosexual personnel, cost the military financially, and bred fear and isolation within homosexual service members. And it was the exposure of these injustices that led to its repeal. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: History.

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This qualitative dissertation in Counseling Psychology considers the open secret, an under-researched phrase describing an interesting phenomenon that is experienced by some, but not all, LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) people when their sexual orientation is known or suspected by family members, friends, and/or coworkers, but not discussed. A review of the literature notes how the essence of the open secret appears to be about knowledge that is not acknowledged, while it may also create a space of grace, allowing people to coexist, where they might not otherwise be able to do so easily. Participants (N = 11) were either current or past members of the U.S. military who served before or during the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy. Interviews were analyzed using James Paul Gee’s linguistic approach to narrative, from which three major findings emerged: (a) sexual and homophobic harassment, whereby historically homophobic attitudes within the military drive the need for secrecy surrounding LGBT sexuality; (b) acceptance and support, whereby the open secret seems to create a space of grace; and (c) empowerment and honesty, whereby LGBT people seem to have a new sense of honesty that empowers them toward a new sense of agency. Discussion includes examination of how the three findings may relate to the open versus secret parts of the open secret, as well as how the open secret and the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy may represent a gestalt attempt at balance that may now be moving toward a gestalt dynamic of completion, suggesting the possibility of a new Discourse of openness and honesty for LGBT people that appears to be on a proleptic edge of possibility.

Sexual assault in the military is a large concern for the Department of Defense. They recognize it as an important and complex problem that needs to be addressed. In recent years, efforts have been initiated in order to improve the handling of sexual assault cases and data retention. An entirely new program has been created in order to address these cases. Focusing on the occurrence of same-sex assaults heightens the sensitivity of matters. This is due to the precarious and only very recent acceptance of homosexuals in the military. In the past, service members, homosexual or otherwise, may have been concerned with having any connection to homosexual acts. This is because such acts could result in removal from the military. However, in 2011 the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Repeal Act went into effect. This act allowed for the open service of homosexuals in the military. Around this same time period, reports from the Department of Defense indicated a rise in the number of sexual assault reports. This thesis analyzes the affect that policies from the Department of Defense and legislation such as the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Repeal Act have on reports of same-sex sexual assault in the military. Through research, this thesis finds that the enactments of various policies have had a measurable impact on treatment of same-sex sexual assault reports in the military, though not necessarily in the way certain media reports might suggest. This thesis also examines the history concerning homosexual service in the military, in order to provide a picture of the national attitudes towards homosexual service in the military, and why certain groups may blame the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender for this rise in reports.