Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy authorization

E176660

LGBT-related policy U.S. federal policy military personnel policy

The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy authorization was a U.S. federal measure that formally allowed gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals to serve in the military only if they concealed their sexual orientation, prohibiting both open service and official inquiries into it.

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All labels observed (6)

Label	Occurrences
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell	2
"Don't ask, don't tell" policy	1
DADT	1
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010	1
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy	1
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy authorization canonical	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1539406 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy authorization
Context triple: [103rd United States Congress, enactedLaw, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy authorization]

A. Nunn–Cohen Amendment
The Nunn–Cohen Amendment is a 1987 U.S. law that created a unified special operations command and funding authority, significantly strengthening and institutionalizing American special operations forces.
B. Shepard–Byrd Act
The Shepard–Byrd Act is a U.S. federal hate-crime law that expanded protections to include crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.
C. Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003
The Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003 is a U.S. federal law that, among other provisions, formally established and empowered the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the 9/11 Commission) to investigate the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks.
D. United States v. Chelsea Manning
United States v. Chelsea Manning was the high-profile court-martial of U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning for leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks, resulting in a landmark conviction under U.S. military and national security law.
E. Military Justice Act of 2016
The Military Justice Act of 2016 is a U.S. law that modernized and reformed the military justice system, updating procedures, offenses, and protections for service members under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy authorization
Target entity description: The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy authorization was a U.S. federal measure that formally allowed gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals to serve in the military only if they concealed their sexual orientation, prohibiting both open service and official inquiries into it.

A. Nunn–Cohen Amendment
The Nunn–Cohen Amendment is a 1987 U.S. law that created a unified special operations command and funding authority, significantly strengthening and institutionalizing American special operations forces.
B. Shepard–Byrd Act
The Shepard–Byrd Act is a U.S. federal hate-crime law that expanded protections to include crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.
C. Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003
The Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003 is a U.S. federal law that, among other provisions, formally established and empowered the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the 9/11 Commission) to investigate the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks.
D. United States v. Chelsea Manning
United States v. Chelsea Manning was the high-profile court-martial of U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning for leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks, resulting in a landmark conviction under U.S. military and national security law.
E. Military Justice Act of 2016
The Military Justice Act of 2016 is a U.S. law that modernized and reformed the military justice system, updating procedures, offenses, and protections for service members under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (47)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	LGBT-related policy ⓘ U.S. federal policy ⓘ military personnel policy ⓘ
alsoKnownAs	DADT ⓘ linked to: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy authorization Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell ⓘ linked to: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy authorization
appliesTo	United States Armed Forces ⓘ
appliesToGroup	bisexual people ⓘ gay people ⓘ lesbian people ⓘ
associatedWithDebate	civil-military relations over LGBT inclusion ⓘ unit cohesion and morale in the military ⓘ
characteristic	banned open service by gay, lesbian, and bisexual personnel ⓘ required concealment of sexual orientation ⓘ restricted official inquiries into sexual orientation ⓘ
country	United States ⓘ linked to: United States of America
criticizedFor	discrimination against LGBT service members ⓘ forcing service members to hide their identity ⓘ leading to loss of trained and experienced personnel ⓘ
domain	LGBT rights in the United States ⓘ civil rights ⓘ military law ⓘ
effect	allowed gay, lesbian, and bisexual people to serve only if they concealed their sexual orientation ⓘ led to discharge of service members who were found to be gay, lesbian, or bisexual and open about it ⓘ prohibited military personnel from asking service members about their sexual orientation ⓘ prohibited openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual people from serving in the U.S. military ⓘ prohibited service members from disclosing their sexual orientation ⓘ
endTime	2011 ⓘ
enforcedBy	U.S. Department of Defense ⓘ linked to: Department of Defense branches of the United States Armed Forces ⓘ
goalClaimed	to balance military needs with political opposition to open gay service ⓘ
historicalContext	followed earlier outright bans on gay service members ⓘ
historicalImpact	became a central issue in U.S. LGBT rights debates ⓘ influenced later policies on transgender military service ⓘ
justificationUsed	claimed to preserve unit cohesion ⓘ
legalForm	federal statutory and regulatory policy ⓘ
legalStatus	repealed ⓘ
repealedBy	Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010 ⓘ
repealEffect	allowed gay, lesbian, and bisexual people to serve openly in the U.S. military ⓘ
repealEffectiveDate	2011-09-20 ⓘ
scope	applied to National Guard when under federal authority ⓘ applied to active duty personnel ⓘ applied to reserve components ⓘ
startTime	1993 ⓘ
subject	gay, lesbian, and bisexual military service ⓘ sexual orientation in the military ⓘ
typeOfRestriction	service eligibility restriction based on sexual orientation ⓘ speech restriction on disclosure of sexual orientation ⓘ

How these facts were elicited