'I remember being in the Castro,' says John Forrett (army reserve, 1987–99), 'and watching the TV at a bar with some friends, watching Al Gore and Bill Clinton swearing that if they became the tag team for America they were going to get rid of the harassment of gays and lesbians serving in the military.' But when the tag team prevailed, they underestimated the resistance to such a reform from a coalition of social conservatives, religious groups, and a large part of the military itself.
How we got here: In 1992, many people thought that the discrimination was nearly over.
