Alexander Nicholson

Alexander Nicholson is the founder and executive director of Servicemembers United, the nation’s largest organization of gay and lesbian troops and veterans, and is one of the nation’s top leaders in the fight to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. A former U.S. Army human intelligence collector who speaks multiple foreign languages including Arabic, Nicholson was discharged from the military because of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” just six months after 9/11. In 2005, Nicholson went public about his own experience with DADT and began organizing to encourage other gay, lesbian and straight veterans – particularly Iraq- and Afghanistan-era - to get involved in advocacy and activism on the DADT issue. Nicholson is the creator of several of the most well-known initiatives to highlight and draw nationwide attention to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” issue, including the 2006 “Call To Duty Tour” and the 2007 “12,000 Flags for 12,000 Patriots” event on the National Mall. He is also one of the primary organizers behind the 2007 “Legacy of Service Tour” and the 2009 “Voices of Honor Tour.” Nicholson was featured on the cover of the Advocate in 2006 and has also appeared in countless other media pieces on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” as a representative of the gay military and veteran community. Along with Servicemembers United, he is prominently featured in the new PBS documentary “Ask Not,” which chronicles the evolution of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and profiles the contemporary movement to overturn the law.