Ben-Shalom was discharged from the US Army in 1976 for homosexuality, leading her to successfully challenge her discharge and return to service in 1987.

• She became the first openly gay person to be reinstated under the military's homosexual exclusion policy.

• Following a series of policy maneuvers by the US government and military, a new policy against homosexual was developed known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", which Ben-Shalom helped spearhead the successful fight against.