Page "Don't ask, don't tell" Paragraph 4

Engaging in Sodomy has been grounds for discharge from the American military since the Revolutionary War.

Policies based on sexual orientation appeared as the United States prepared to enter World War II.

When the military added psychiatric screening to its induction process, it included homosexuality as a disqualifying trait, then seen as a form of psychopathology.

When the army issued revised mobilization regulations in 1942, it distinguished " homosexual " recruits from " normal " recruits for the first time.

Before the buildup to the war gay servicemembers were court-martialed, imprisoned, and dishonorably discharged, but in wartime commanding officers found it difficult to convene court-martial boards of commissioned officers and the administrative blue discharge became the military's standard method for handling gay and lesbian personnel.

In 1944, a new policy directive decreed that homosexuals were to be committed to military hospitals, examined by psychiatrists and discharged under Regulation 615-360, section 8.