Alexander Nicholson 
Fighting to Serve [PDF ebook] 
Behind the Scenes in the War to Repeal "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell"

Revealing the backstage dealings that led to the 2010 repeal of the Pentagon”s ’Don”t Ask, Don”t Tell’ (DADT) policy, Fighting to Serve offers a detailed, no-holds-barred account of the negotiations from an insider’s perspective. In early 2006, Alexander Nicholson, the founder of the largest organization for gay and lesbian servicemembers—Servicemembers United—along with fellow former military members who had also been discharged under DADT, toured the United States, speaking about the destructive policy at American Legion posts, on radio talk shows, and at press conferences across the South and both coasts. Surprised at the mostly positive reception and momentum for the repeal that the tour provoked, Servicemembers United was suddenly propelled to the forefront of the fight to overturn DADT. From the unique perspective of the only person with a central role on every front in the war against DADT, Nicholson exposes how various LGBT organizations, Congress, the Pentagon, and the White House often worked at cross purposes, telling the public they were doing one thing while advocating other strategies behind closed doors.