Author of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" research used by U.S. Secretary of Defense available for comment

May 25, 2010

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Diane H. Mazur, University of Florida Levin College of Law professor and author of two research reports the Pentagon used in curbing enforcement of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in March 2010, is available to comment on existing and future proposals by the U.S. Department of Defense and Congress regarding gays in the military.

Congress is expected to reach a decision on the future of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” by the end of the week, and the White House has expressed its support for the repeal of the 1993 law.

Mazur, a former U.S. Air Force captain, is the legal co-director of the University of California, Santa Barbara-based Palm Center, the premier academic and research organization for the study of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The two reports listed below, published during the summer of 2009, have been an important part of the debate regarding gays in the military. She is also the author of “A More Perfect Military: How the Constitution Can Make Our Military Stronger,” to be published by Oxford University Press in November 2010.

DIANE H. MAZUR, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE AUTHORITY TO IMPLEMENT “DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL” IN A MANNER CONSISTENT WITH NATIONAL SECURITY
Palm Center, University of California, Santa Barbara (July 2009)
http://www.palmcenter.org/files/active/0/ImplementationInLinewithNationalSecurity.pdf

Diane H. Mazur, Presidential Authority to Suspend Discharges for Homosexual Conduct and Draft Executive Order Suspending Discharges for Homosexual Conduct, in Aaron Belkin, et al., HOW TO END “DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL”: A ROADMAP OF POLITICAL, LEGAL, REGULATORY, AND ORGANIZATIONAL STEPS TO EQUAL TREATMENT
Palm Center, University of California, Santa Barbara (May 2009)
http://www.palmcenter.org/files/active/0/Executive%20Order%20on%20Gay%20Troops%20-%20final.pdf

To view Mazur’s faculty page, visit http://www.law.ufl.edu/faculty/mazur/.