During the apartheid era, the South African military maintained a dual policy on<br />homosexuality – prohibited among members of the permanent force, homosexuality<br />was officially tolerated among conscripts. When the regime fell, the new<br />government committed itself to human rights considerations, and after the South<br />African Constitution adopted a provision of non-discrimination on the basis of<br />sexual orientation in 1996, the South African military followed suit. In 1998, the<br />South African National Defence Force (SANDF) implemented the Policy on Equal<br />Opportunity and Affirmative Action that declared that there would no longer be<br />discrimination against gays and lesbians. This article draws together military and<br />government documents, secondary research, press coverage and interviews with<br />individuals with knowledge on this topic to assess the effects of this policy change.<br />The evidence suggests that the integration of gay and lesbian personnel has not had a<br />negative impact on recruitment and retention, morale, unit cohesion or operational<br />effectiveness in the SANDF.