#9: Government Spies on Student Groups Protesting DADT

In December 2005, NBC's Lisa Myers reported that the Pentagon was spying on Americans, including student groups protesting military recruitment and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." A blogospheric explosion ensued as prominent blogs like AMERICAblog and Wonkette weighed in on the issue.

Not only did the story reveal the government's surveillance of private citizens and infringement of First Amendment rights, but it also sparked a critical discussion in the blogosphere and in the general public about the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban on openly lesbian, gay, and bisexual military personnel. For that reason, the domestic spying story is #9 on our countdown of the top ten "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" stories of 2006.

A quick rundown of the story:

In January, SLDN filed a Freedom of Information Act request on behalf of itself and thirteen other lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender groups, asking for "any and all documents" concerning meetings and communications within and between LGBT organizations, and a request for “reports, video recordings, audio recording and photographs” obtained through the Pentagon surveillance. In February, the Pentagon admitted to collecting 'inappropriate' information on protestors. In later months, we saw the Pentagon turning over Threat and and Location Observation Notice (TALON) reports revealing the scope of their surveillance.

And yet, we will probably never know the full extent of the government surveillance of the LGBT community.

But, what is more important is that the domestic spying story raised American consciousness around civil liberties and highlighted the stupidity of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law. Because of this, we honor all of the bloggers and journalists who helped us raise the visibility of this story and of our issue.

- Rebecca Sawyer