Commander Zoe Dunning: Repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was ‘unreal’ and ‘a big day for our country’

A new MSNBC Films documentary, “Serving In Secret: Love, Country and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” follows one military couple’s journey for acceptance as it traces the long history of LGBTQ+ discrimination in the military. Naval Commander Zoe Dunning and former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson join Andrea Mitchell to share their memories of the overturning of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and what it meant for them. “It was, as he said, an unreal day. And Tom is just such an example of someone who took heartbreak and injustice and turned around and did something about it and worked diligently over many years to work to repeal this,” Dunning says of Tom Carpenter, a friend of hers and the main subject of the documentary. “So he and others who worked on it, who were sitting in that auditorium and President Obama signed the Repeal Act. We were just thrilled, and it was a big day for all of us as a big day for our country.”Nov. 10, 2023