GAY-BAN RULING WILL STAND UNTIL APPEAL

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 13, 1993                   TAG: 9303130185
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES                                LENGTH: Short
GAY-BAN RULING WILL STAND UNTIL APPEAL
A ruling declaring the Navy's ban on homosexuals unconstitutional will remain in effect while the issue is appealed, a federal court ruled Friday.
The government had asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for an emergency stay setting aside the ban until the case involving Petty Officer Keith Meinhold was resolved. Meinhold, a sonar instructor at Moffat Field Naval Air Station near San Francisco, was discharged after revealing he is gay.
He was reinstated after U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter Jr. ruled Jan. 28 that the Navy's ban on homosexuals violates the Constitution's equal protection guarantee. The government appealed.
The two-judge appeals panel that issued Friday's ruling from San Francisco said there was still a legitimate dispute over whether Hatter's ruling applied to every gay sailor or only Meinhold.
But, the court added, "it is difficult to see how appellants will be substantially harmed pending appeal."
Officials of the Navy and Justice Department didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. - Associated Press

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB