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How The Gay Ban Undermines The Military And Weakens America
Thomas Dunne Books
March 2009
On Sale: March 3, 2009
352 pages ISBN: 0312373481 EAN: 9780312373481 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
When the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy emerged as a
political compromise under Bill Clinton in 1993, it only
ended up worsening the destructive gay ban that had been on
the books since World War II. Drawing on more than a decade
of research and hundreds of interviews, Nathaniel Frank
exposes the military’s policy toward gays and lesbians as
damaging and demonstrates that “don’t ask, don’t tell” must
be replaced with an outright reversal of the gay
ban. Frank is one of the nation’s leading experts on gays in the
military, and in his evenhanded and always scrupulously
documented chronicle, he reveals how the ban on open gays
and lesbians in the U.S. military has greatly increased
discharges, hampered recruitment, and—contrary to the
rationale offered by proponents of the ban—led to lower
morale and cohesion within military ranks. Frank does not shy away from tackling controversial issues,
and he presents indisputable evidence showing that gays
already serve openly without causing problems, and that the
policy itself is weakening the military it was supposed to
protect. In addition to the moral pitfalls of the gay ban,
Frank shows the practical damage it has wrought. Most
recently, the discharge of valuable Arabic translators (who
happen to be gay) under the current policy has left U.S.
forces ill-equipped in the fight against terrorism. Part history, part exposé, and fully revealing, Unfriendly
Fire is poised to become the definitive story of “don’t ask,
don’t tell.” This lively and compelling narrative is sure to
make the blood boil of any American who cares about national
security, the right to speak the truth, or just plain common
sense and fairness.
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