image: The US Army's official comic book ( http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/documents/2010/07/the-us-armys-official-comic-book-on-dadt.php?page=6, retrieved 12.1.2011)

Homosexuals were not allowed to serve in the army at all until 1993, based on president Harry S. Truman's the

 Uniform Code of Military Justice, which set up discharge rules for homosexual service members.

However, in 1993 president Bill Clinton launched the ”Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue” policy. Don't Ask,

 Don't Tell (DADT) was a compromise that promised two things while appeasing the conservative opposition to

 openly gay service: first, that the safety of gay servicemembers would be better protected, and second, the law

gave gays a means to dodge the traditional discrimination in order to enlist. In other words, the concept suggested

 that homosexuals could serve in the military as long as they didn’t say they were homosexuals.