The American people take that phrase “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” at face value. Most believe that the policy allows a person to serve as a gay American so long as he or she does not tell anyone. Unfortunately, as we know from our SLDN client base of approximately 75 cases at any one time, men and women can be discharged because someone else “tells,” such as a mother who can’t stand the thought of her son returning to Iraq, or a jealous partner, or an intercepted innocent e-mail from an admirer back home.

And because the criterion for discharge is “credible evidence from a reliable source,” with no standard for what “credible” or “reliable” means, the policy is arbitrarily enforced at the discretion of the commander.