Tell: Love, Defiance, and the Military Trial at the Tipping Point for Gay Rights

Written by Major Margaret Witt, Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer and Tim Connor

Narrated by Major Margaret Witt and Donna Postel

In 1993 Margie Witt, a young Air Force nurse, was chosen as the face of the Air Force’s “Cross into the Blue” recruitment campaign. This was also the year that President Clinton’s plan for gays to serve openly in the military was quashed by an obdurate Congress, resulting in the blandly cynical political compromise known as Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Contrary to its intent, DADT had the perverse effect of making it harder for gay servicemen and -women to fight expulsion. Over the next seventeen years more than 13,000 gay soldiers, sailors, marines, coast guard, and airmen and -women were removed from military service. That is, until Margie Witt’s landmark case put a stop to it.

Tell is the riveting story of Major Margaret Witt’s dedicated and decorated military career as a frontline flight nurse, and of her love and devotion to her partner—now wife—Laurie Johnson. Tell captures the tension and drama of the politically charged legal battle that led to the congressional repeal of the controversial law and helped pave the way for a suite of landmark political and legal victories for gay rights. Tell is a testament to the power of love to transform hearts and minds, as well as a celebration of the indomitable spirit of Major Witt, her wife Laurie, her dedicated legal team, and the brave men and women who came forward to testify on her behalf in a historic federal trial.

“The name Margaret Witt may join the canon of US civil rights pioneers.” —Guardian

“Major Witt’s trial provided an unparalleled opportunity to attack the central premise of [Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell] . . . and set an important precedent.” —New York Times

“A landmark ruling.” —Politico

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Oct 11, 2018
• ISBN: 9781978632233

Major Margaret Witt

MAJOR MARGARET WITT is a decorated twenty-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force who made history in 2010 with her successful challenge of the notorious Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell law, which prohibited known gays and lesbians from serving in the U.S. military. She is currently a rehabilitation supervisor for the Portland VA Health Care System in Portland, Oregon. TIM CONNOR is an investigative reporter specializing in legal and science journalism. He lives in Washington State.

Reviews for Tell

[meltorq · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Simply put, Tell is an incredibly important book. The story is timely, and this part of history should not be downplayed. I enjoyed the personal insights that Major Margie Witt offered that demonstrated the detrimental affects that Don't Ask Don't Tell had on those serving in the armed forces. Ultimately, this story reminds the reader of an a part of history that should not be forgotten in the face of progress.

[grrllovesbooks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent handling of a difficult story. Well worth the read. Informative.

[daniexj · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I wish so much that this had been a fiction novel, not because it was a bad non-fiction book, but because all the beats were there for a piece of fiction, but it was Major Margaret Witt's real life (and her family's real life). It tells the story of her as well as the story of her fight to stay in the Air Force after she is revealed to be a lesbian.It was an up and down book. And I cannot imagine even coming close to living through it. Just as when I read Serving in Silence, for a lot of the book I was amazingly angry (especially with everything that was going on in the great world while I was reading this in 2018).The author wrote about not just the trail too, which was nice, but we also got to know so much about not just Witt, but those around her too. And that gave such depth to the journey.The one thing that tripped me up a little was some of the law stuff. A lot of it was very specific and my eyes glazed over from some of it.Still before I'd read this I didn't know I needed to read it, but, with how everything seems to be going backwards these days. This was just a little bit real life (not fictional) hope in my day.

[charlessvec · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed reading this book. The topic is very timely, and is one that anyone interested in this subject would be encouraged to read. While not a complete history of DADT, this is still a worthy addition to that discussion. Recommended!

[theodarling · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a story worth reading, but there is something about the tone/feel of the actual text that seemed off to me. Given Witt's credit as author, I did not expect the book to be written in the third person. It seemed to be neither memoir nor academic history, but a hybrid of the two, like a longform profile piece or a lightweight biography (+ legalese) for beach or airplane reading. I was actually hoping for something a little more analytical.

[gagvlibrary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While Major Margie Witt (the "g" is hard) is the first author, the book is written in third person. Her collaborator, Tim Connor, is a law journalist, which is clearly apparent in the book's style. The first half reads like a high-quality magazine piece: engaging, personal, and precise. When the topic turns to courtroom action, the explanations of the legal principles involved are equally precise. It takes more concentration and reading some sentences two or three times, but the reader comes away with a clear understanding. It's a satisfying read both from getting to know Margie and from gaining insight into the legal issues involved. Connor's one stylistic stumbling block is his (I presume his) insistence on precision with verb tenses. Descriptions of people, places, or institutions, the descriptions still being applicable in 2017, sentences switch to present tense even when elsewhere in the same sentence past tense is used to tell the story. The juxtaposition is awkward. The book could have benefited from relaxing the grammatical precision in favor of a natural style, which it generally achieves in other respects.To summarize: an in-depth look at one servicemember's military career under Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the course of her case through the legal system, the legal standard that bears her name, and the impact of her story on the larger advancement of civil rights.

[sallylou61 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Tell is the story of Margaret (Margie) Witt’s life with an emphasis on how much her Air Force career meant to her and the disastrous effects of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) on the military. Although it appears on the surface to be an autobiography with Major Witt’s name first on the title page and the word “with” appearing in front of Tim Connor’s name, the whole story is written in the third person which was disconcerting at first.Margie, who struggled with her sexuality from an early age (teenager), had an exemplary career as an Air Force nurse. She got along well with her co-workers and played a leadership role. However, she had to be careful of her sexuality because of DADT, which could lead to a military discharge of one was expected of being gay. She was finally investigated because she was reported by the husband of her lover, whom she later married, and a former female lover; not because of anything she said or did as a member of the Air Force. After this occurred, she finally told her parents she was a lesbian -- something they had suspected for many years but had not said anything. In her fight against the treatment of gays in the military, she had the support of her family and many friends and colleagues.The story of Margie’s legal problems is compelling; they were strung out of approximately seven years. In the end, she won her case, Witt v. Air Force (2010) which had a strong impact on the repeal of the DADT later that year.Throughout the book, a history of what other gays in the military had experienced and its effect on Margie’s case was discussed. The foreword by Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer, a military nurse who was discharged (and later reinstated) for being gay, gives a history of gays in the military from the Revolutionary War onwards.Unfortunately, the titles of the chapters are catchy, and some seem rather far-fetched and/or not very appropriate. The most inappropriate title chapter is “When Lawyers Are a Girl’s Best Friends” for chapter 10. At this point of the story, Margie is a 40-year-old woman, and calling her a girl is very demeaning, both to Margie herself and to women in general. The fight to gain equal rights for gays and lesbians in the military is a serious business and featured adults, not children.