TELL. Love, Defiance, and the Military Trial at the Tipping Point For Gay Rights

Lebanon: ForeEdge, 2017. First edition. Hardcover. A fine copy in a nearly fine dust jacket. Signed by the author on the title page. Major Margaret H. Witt, a decorated 20-year veteran of the United States Air Force won a landmark legal battle against the Pentagon's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and now is retired with full benefits at age 60 with a completely restored service record. Back in 1993 Margie Witt was a young Air Force nurse chosen as the face of the Air Force's "Cross into the Blue" recruitment campaign. This was also the year that President Clinton's plan for gays to serve openly in the military was quashed by an obdurate Congress, resulting in the blandly cynical political compromise known as Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Contrary to its intent, DADT had the perverse effect of making it harder for gay servicemen and women to fight expulsion. Over the next seventeen years more than 13,000 gay soldiers, sailors, marines, coast guard, and airmen and women were removed from military service. That is, until Margie Witt's landmark case put a stop to it. This is the riveting story of Major Margaret Witt's dedicated and decorated military career as a frontline flight nurse, and of her love and devotion to her partner—now wife—Laurie Johnson. This book captures the tension and drama of the politically charged legal battle that led to the congressional repeal of the controversial law and helped pave the way for a suite of landmark political and legal victories for gay rights. Tell is a testament to the power of love to transform hearts and minds, as well as a celebration of the indomitable spirit of Major Witt, her wife Laurie, her dedicated legal team, and the brave men and women who came forward to testify on her behalf in a historic federal trial. Illustrated from photographs. 258pp with index.