IV 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1090 

Recognizing the hearing of the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate 

on the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, and the testimony of Secretary 

of Defense Robert M. Gates and Admiral Michael G. Mullen at the 

hearing, as an important first step in permitting gay and lesbian Americans to serve openly in the Armed Forces and expressing the sense 

of the House of Representatives that the policy should be repealed 

in 2010. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 22, 2010 

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida (for himself, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Ms. SPEIER, 

Mr. FARR, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. HONDA, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Ms. PINGREE

of Maine, Ms. BERKLEY, Ms. WATSON, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, 

Ms. KILPATRICK of Michigan, Ms. CHU, Mr. FILNER, Mrs. 

CHRISTENSEN, Ms. RICHARDSON, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. ISRAEL, Mr. 

HINCHEY, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. CUMMINGS, Ms. JACKSON

LEE of Texas, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. MICHAUD, and 

Mr. POLIS of Colorado) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing the hearing of the Committee on Armed Services 

of the Senate on the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, and 

the testimony of Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates 

and Admiral Michael G. Mullen at the hearing, as an 

important first step in permitting gay and lesbian Americans to serve openly in the Armed Forces and expressing 

the sense of the House of Representatives that the policy 

should be repealed in 2010. 


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•HRES 1090 IH 

Whereas there are an estimated 66,000 members of the 

Armed Forces who are gay or lesbian and approximately 

one million veterans who are gay or lesbian; 

Whereas these brave men and women serve in the Armed 

Forces as highly trained linguists, aviators, medics, and 

soldiers and are involved in valuable operations that have 

nothing to do with their sexual orientation and everything 

to do with protecting American lives and advancing the 

national security interests of the United States; 

Whereas the current policy concerning homosexuality in the 

Armed Forces, which is referred to as the Don’t Ask, 

Don’t Tell policy and is codified as section 654 of title 

10, United States Code, continues to hurt members of 

the Armed Forces, runs counter to the values exemplified 

by the Armed Forces, and threatens national security; 

Whereas in 2009, 428 members of the Armed Forces were 

discharged or released as a result of application of the 

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, at the estimated cost of 

over $12 million; 

Whereas since the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy was implemented in 1994, more than 13,000 members have been 

discharged or released solely as a consequence of their 

sexual orientation; 

Whereas President Obama called for the repeal of the Don’t 

Ask, Don’t Tell policy during his 2010 State of the 

Union address and pledged to work with military leaders 

this year ‘‘to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of 

who they are’’; 

Whereas the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate 

held a hearing on the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy on 


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•HRES 1090 IH 

February 2, 2010, and heard testimony from Defense 

Secretary Robert M. Gates and Admiral Michael G. 

Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; 

Whereas Secretary Gates declared his full support for the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy; 

Whereas Admiral Mullen stated the following: ‘‘My personal 

belief is that allowing homosexuals to serve openly would 

be the right thing to do. I cannot escape being troubled 

by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces 

young men and women to lie about who they are in order 

to defend their fellow citizens. For me, it comes down to 

integrity—theirs as individuals and ours as an institution.’’; 

Whereas Admiral Mullen is the highest ranking military officer in American history to publically support permitting 

gay and lesbian Americans to serve openly in the Armed 

Forces; 

Whereas Secretary Gates, working in close consultation with 

Admiral Mullen, has appointed a high-level working 

group within the Department of Defense, led by Pentagon General Counsel Jeh Johnson and General Carter 

Ham, to review issues regarding the proper implementation of a repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy; 

Whereas the mandate of this working group is to thoroughly, 

objectively, and methodically examine all aspects of these 

issues and report its findings and recommendations to 

Congress in the form of an implementation plan by the 

end of 2010; 

Whereas the working group will reach out to the force to authoritatively understand their views and attitudes about 

the impacts of repeal, undertake a thorough examination 


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•HRES 1090 IH 

of all the changes to the department’s regulations and 

policies that may have to be made, and examine the potential impacts of a change in law on military effectiveness; 

Whereas Secretary Gates has directed the Department of Defense to quickly review the regulations used to implement 

the current Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy and, within 45 

days, present him with recommended changes to those 

regulations that would enforce the policy in a more 

human and fair manner within existing law; 

Whereas the Department of Defense will ask the RAND Corporation to update its 1993 study on the impacts of allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the Armed Forces; 

Whereas top leadership is critical to the successful implementation of a repeal plan, however, full and final repeal of 

section 654 of title 10, United States Code, remains up 

to Congress; 

Whereas the 1993 RAND study recommended that changes 

to the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy be ‘‘decided upon and 

implemented as quickly as possible’’; 

Whereas several studies suggest that the repeal of section 

654 of title 10, United States Code, can be implemented 

more quickly than indicated by Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen; 

Whereas the Subcommittee on Personnel Management of the 

Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives will hold a hearing regarding the Don’t Ask, Don’t 

Tell policy on March 3, 2010, and the Committee on 

Armed Services of the Senate intends to hold additional 

hearings regarding the policy; 


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•HRES 1090 IH 

Whereas in his testimony, Secretary Gates stated that the 

working group will need to ‘‘engage men and women in 

uniform and their families’’ in order to assess their views 

regarding the effects of repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t 

Tell policy and implementation of the repeal; 

Whereas current members of the Armed Forces, regardless of 

their sexual orientation, have valuable insight to share 

with military leaders and Congress regarding the Don’t 

Ask, Don’t Tell policy and any repeal implementation 

plan; 

Whereas the discriminatory nature of section 654 of title 10, 

United States Code, prevents members of the Armed 

Forces from speaking openly, and both the Armed Forces 

and Congress will need a way to obtain information from 

members to move forward with implementing repeal; and 

Whereas all avenues to allow members of the Armed Forces 

to participate in the upcoming Congressional hearings, 

and to protect them from retribution for doing so, need 

to be explored: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) recognizes the hearing of the Committee on 

3 Armed Services of the Senate on the Don’t Ask, 

4 Don’t Tell policy, and the testimony of Secretary of 

5 Defense Robert M. Gates and Admiral Michael G. 

6 Mullen at the hearing, as an important first step in 

7 bringing about the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t 

8 Tell policy concerning homosexuality in the Armed 

9 Forces and in permitting gay and lesbian Americans 

10 to serve openly in the Armed Forces; 


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•HRES 1090 IH 

1 (2) expresses the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, as 

3 codified in section 654 of title 10, United States 

4 Code, should be repealed in 2010 and that repeal 

5 legislation should be promptly brought to a vote in 

6 the Senate and House of Representatives; 

7 (3) expresses the hope that President Obama 

8 will continue his leadership on this issue; 

9 (4) urges the Pentagon working group to de10 liver a repeal implementation plan to Congress as 

11 soon as possible while ensuring that the needs and 

12 concerns of members of the Armed Forces are taken 

13 into consideration; 

14 (5) pledges to do its part to move the repeal 

15 planning and implementation process forward on a 

16 timeline that is best for all members of the Armed 

17 Forces; and 

18 (6) strongly recommends that the Committee on 

19 Armed Services of the Senate and the Subcommittee 

20 on Personnel Management of the Committee on 

21 Armed Services of the House of Representatives in22 clude members of the Armed Forces, regardless of 

23 their sexual orientation, in the upcoming hearings 

24 regarding the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. 

Æ 


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