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PageOneQ 12,000 Flags on the Mall will take place starting on the 14th anniversary of the policy's enactment, November 30, 2007, and continue through Sunday, December 2nd. During that weekend, each of the 12,000 flags installed on Washington's National Mall will serve to honor an individual servicemember discharged under "Don't Ask." Says HRC's event announcement, "The flags will stand throughout the weekend as a testament to the sacrifice these men and women made on behalf of our country and the discrimination they faced as a result of this law." "This event on the National Mall," says HRC spokesman Brad Luna, "will continue to focus attention on putting this discriminatory policy, hurting our country's national security, into the history books, where it belongs." Signed into law by President Clinton, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" prohibits the military from directly asking a member of the military to reveal his or her sexual orientation. On the same token, it disqualifies all openly gay people from serving their country, and servicemembers that are either openly gay or reported gay to superiors face prompt discharge. More information is available on HRC's Legacy of Service page, and at SLDN. HRC's video announcement can be viewed below:
The Human Rights Campaign has teamed up with the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, Servicemembers United (formerly Call to Duty), Log Cabin Republicans and Liberty Education Forum to honor LGBT military personnel fired under 10 USC Sec. 654, better known as the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, enacted November 30, 1993.
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Originally published on Wednesday November 21, 2007.