This week, the Pentagon and the Department of Justice (DOJ) raised several questions about the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy, including the DOJ brief to dismiss a challenge to the gay ban and Army Secretary John M. McHugh's statements protecting troops from DADT discharge during the review process. The Palm Center's legal co-director, Diane Mazur, addresses both.

SANTA BARBARA -- This week, the Pentagon and the Department of Justice raised several questions about the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

This past Friday I traveled to the Roger Williams Law School in Bristol, R.I., at the invitation of The Alliance, the law school’s LGBT student group.

The law school is appropriately enough named after one of the people who founded Rhode Island in the 1600s in the course of seeking liberty for persecuted religious minorities. We draw on that same spirit in our continued struggle to seek liberty and end discrimination for the 65,000 LGBT service members currently serving under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

On Saturday, March 20, I, along with about 900 other people, had the opportunity to say thank you to one of those service members when SLDN honored my former client Lt Col Victor Fehrenbach with the 2010 Barry Winchell Courage Award.

I first spoke to Victor in 2008, just after he was notified that the Air Force was moving to discharge him under DADT.

Victor’s first instinct, like many others who are impacted by this law, was to get out quickly with an honorable discharge and get on with his life. But a few weeks later, he called me again. He had changed his mind and wanted to fight.

WASHINGTON – Rachel Maddow tackled “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) on her MSNBC show on Thursday, specifically addressing the controversial Senate hearing testimony by Ret. Gen. John Sheehan.

The retired Marine general testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee in support of keeping DADT.

He suggested that repealing DADT would lead to more “rape and sodomy” in the military.