Fighting to Serve

Revealing the backstage strategies and negotiations that led to the 2010 repeal of the Pentagon's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) policy, this history offers a detailed, no-holds-barred account of the controversial policy from an insider's perspective. In early 2006, the founder of the largest organization for gay and lesbian servicemembers-Servicemembers United-along with fellow former military members who had also been discharged under the DADT policy, toured the United States, speaking about the repeal campaign at American Legion posts, on radio talk shows, and at press conferences across the South and both coasts. Surprised at the mostly positive reception and momentum for the repeal that the tour received, Servicemembers United was suddenly propelled to the forefront of DADT's repeal fight. From the unique perspective of the only person with a central role on every front in the war against DADT, this examination exposes how various Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) organizations, Congress, and the White House often worked at cross purposes, telling the public they were doing one thing while advocating other strategies behind closed doors.

Alexander Nicholson is the founder and executive director of Servicemembers United, the nation's largest organization of LGBT troops and veterans, and was the only person engaged with every aspect of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" fight-the grassroots, the media, the U.S. Congress, the administration, the Pentagon, and the courts. He lives in Washington, DC.