The United States military ends its "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don't_ask,_don't_tell" id="mwASE" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Don't ask, don't tell">don't ask, don't tell</a>" policy, allowing gay men and women to serve openly for the first time.<sup about="#mwt161" class="mw-ref reference" data-mw='{"name":"ref","attrs":{},"body":{"id":"mw-reference-text-cite_note-31"}}' id="cite_ref-31" rel="dc:references" typeof="mw:Extension/ref"><a href="./September_20#cite_note-31" id="mwASI" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 31;"><span class="mw-reflink-text" id="mwASM">[31]</span></a></sup>
<span class="mw-reference-text" id="mw-reference-text-cite_note-31"><cite about="#mwt158" class="citation news cs1" id="mwB7w"><a class="external text" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14981082" id="mwB70" rel="mw:ExtLink nofollow">"<span class="cs1-kern-left" id="mwB74"></span>'Don't ask, don't tell' ban on gays in US military ends"</a>. <i id="mwB78">BBC News</i>. September 20, 2011<span class="reference-accessdate" id="mwB8A">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap" id="mwB8E">November 23,</span> 2020</span>.</cite><span about="#mwt158" class="Z3988" id="mwB8I" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&amp;rft.genre=article&amp;rft.jtitle=BBC+News&amp;rft.atitle=%27Don%27t+ask%2C+don%27t+tell%27+ban+on+gays+in+US+military+ends&amp;rft.date=2011-09-20&amp;rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fworld-us-canada-14981082&amp;rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASeptember+20"></span></span>