Tag Archives: Don’t Ask Don’t Tell

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is focus of this month’s film at MacArthur Museum

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MacMus DontAskEach month, the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History screens a free movie one evening.  This month’s film is the HBO documentary The Strange History of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.  The film screens from 6:30pm to 8:30pm.  It is part of LGBT Heritage month.

This film illustrates the tumultuous evolution of the controversial policy that forced many soldiers to lie and live in secrecy. Filmed during the final 15 months of the law, The Strange History of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell interweaves archival news footage and interviews with key players, from policy experts to Pentagon personnel, as well as personal accounts by a number of actively serving gay soldiers

Free admission. Popcorn and libations provided.

Filmed during the final 15 months of the law, THE STRANGE HISTORY OF DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL interweaves archival news footage and interviews with key players, from policy experts to Pentagon personnel, as well as personal accounts by a number of actively serving gay soldiers (obscured from the camera because speaking about their sexual orientation violates Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell). Among the featured subjects are: Mass. Rep. Barney Frank; Ct. Sen. Joe Lieberman; former Pa. Rep Patrick Murphy, an Iraqi war veteran who played a leading role in the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal; Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach; Col. Margarethe Cammermeyer; Jeh C. Johnson, general counsel of the Department of Defense; and Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN).

Filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato have produced a variety of acclaimed nonfiction programming, including 24 documentaries for HBO and CINEMAX, among them “Heidi Fleiss: The Would-Be Madam of Crystal,” “Monica in Black and White,” “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” and, most recently, the Emmy®-nominated “Wishful Drinking.”

THE STRANGE HISTORY OF DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL is produced and directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato; supervising producer, Jacqueline Glover; executive producer, Sheila Nevins; producers, Gabriel Rotello and Mona Card; editors, Langdon F. Page, Chris Conway; music by David Benjamin Steinberg.