Queer military drama Boots has many looking into historic US army rules, which for a long time banned gay people from serving in the military.

Boots follows 13 Reasons Why star Miles Heizer as Cameron Cope, a closeted teen who signs up to the marine corps after struggling to find a sense of purpose at home. While at boot camp, with his best friend Ray (newcomer Liam Oh), he learns that it’s not just tough and gruelling, but homophobic too.

The Netflix drama is set in 1990, when being gay in the US armed forces was still illegal.

While initially struggling with his life at boot camp, Cameron ultimately grows stronger. Relationships with his fellow recruits develop and he proves to himself that he does have the right stuff for the marines, as long as they don’t find out about his sexuality.

PinkNews entertainment reporter Marcus Wratten described the series as a “coming-of-age story” that’s “worth hanging about for, for the sweet and sometimes beautiful relationships that form between these men, and the genuinely affecting moments that happen”. 

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

The US military ended its ban on gay people serving when president Bill Clinton’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was repealed in 2011. 

The policy, in effect since 1994, prohibited LGBQT+ service members speaking about or disclosing same-sex relationships during their service, while barring openly queer people from applying to join the armed forces. It aimed to prevent closeted military personnel from being discriminating against or harassed. Superior officers were barred from initiating investigations of a service member’s orientation without witnessing disallowed behaviours.

Anyone breaking the rules would face being discharged. Before Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, there was an outright ban on gay people serving. 

The earliest record of an officer being dismissed from the military for being gay was 1778, according to the US Naval Institute. Lieutenant Gotthold Frederick Enslin was court-martialled from what was then known as the Continental Army, after being found guilty of sodomy (anal intercourse). 

In 1917, the Articles of War of 1916 were implemented. Under Article 93, any person subject to military law who committed “assault with intent to commit sodomy” could be punished as a court-martial decided.

In 2007, while campaigning for the presidency, Barack Obama pledged to end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell within 100 days of taking office, and to allow gay men and women to serve openly in the armed forces.

Obama signed the repeal into law in December 2010, and it came into effect on 20 September 2011.

All episodes of Boots are streaming now on Netflix.

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