History is repeating itself. However, instead of African Americans fighting for equal rights it is the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual (LGB) community fighting for equal rights. Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was a policy put in place by the United States federal government preventing homosexual military service members from disclosing their sexual orientation, but allowing them to serve in the military. It was indented to be a compromise. The reasoning cited for this policy was that any disclosure of sexual orientation would be deleterious to unit cohesion. However, research has indicated that this policy had the opposite effect. It was harmful to the psychological well being of LGB service members. I know from personal experience that being closeted, or concealing one’s sexual identity, is a mentally demanding task. There are many negative psychological effects of living disingenuously, and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) was at the center of that for many LGB service members. As a part of his 1992 campaign, Bill Clinton made gays in the military a political issue. Clinton assumed that once he was elected that the policy, banning homosexuals from serving, could simply be overturned with an executive order; in the same way that former president Harry Truman had put the radical policy into effect. However, this was not the case, Clinton was met with aggressive opposition from the senate, especially from a Georgia senator, Sam Nunn. Nunn organized hearings of two committees, the House and Senate Armed Services Committees. Once the two committees were created, one argued for the complete repeal of the ban, and the other proposed the compromise that would grow into DADT (Prakash 89). The DADT policy took effect in 1993; its main goal was to try to promote unit cohesion. The rationale for the policy was the universal fear amongst government officials that the disclosure of homosexual behavior would be detrimental to unit cohesion (Wilder 628). The policy was rooted in fear, in the trepidation that anything different was toxic to the tradition of the US military. It is difficult for someone outside of the military culture to imagine going to work each day and not be able to talk about his or her spouse or family life. That was the reality for LGB service members under the iron fist of DADT. For example, a coworker asking about the weekend or a new piece of jewelry is such a routine part of workplace conversation that most people don’t even give it a second thought before asking. However, for LGB service members, this meant having to lie, change the conversation topic or risk the end of their military career. This ultimately creates a web of lies that has to be maintained at all times which causes an immense cognitive burden adding to their stress. “The difficulty in maintaining such silence is magnified in a military job where the work can be all-encompassing, where service members are deployed away from home with their unit, where at times one’s life is in danger and where unit cohesion is all-important” (Barber 349). To better understand an LGB service member’s experience, I first spoke to retired Airman First Class Trey Sheilder about his service in the Air Force. Born as Tara Sheilder she began her female to male transition after her honorable discharge from service in the Air Force. Sheilder served in the Air Force from 2006 to 2010. Off base, she was completely open about her sexuality. She dated women, dressed in a masculine manner and did no