Do ask, do tell
Last September, Lissa Young received a frantic phone call. “What are you doing tomorrow?” asked a desperate friend on the other end of the line. “I need you to go to Portland, Maine, and introduce Lady Gaga for me.” Young, unfamiliar with the edgy pop sensation, declined. But when her friend called back the next day in a panic, Young’s deep-rooted military sense of duty kicked in, and she agreed. “I had no idea who Lady Gaga was, but I went.” The doctoral candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education made the two-hour trip north from Cambridge to offer opening remarks at a rally with the singer organized by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. The event supported the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the longtime ban on gay men and lesbians openly serving in the military. Young is painfully familiar with the toll the restrictive policy could take. A 16-year military veteran and helicopter...