Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 30, 1993 TAG: 9310300074
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The action frees the administration to put its policy into effect immediately, despite a ruling by a lower court that the administration's rules are unconstitutional discrimination against homosexuals.
The policy calls for recruits not be asked about their sexual preference before they get into the service, but allows the military to discharge or demote them if they announce they are homosexual or have sexual relations.
The high court's order could be temporary - pending a decision by a California federal court that will hear an appeal by a homosexual sailor in December.
U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter Jr. of Los Angeles started the latest round in the controversy in September with an unusually broad ruling in the case of Navy petty officer Keith Meinhold. The judge used the case to stop the administration's policy that put conditions on gay service in the military.
The federal government contended Hatter did not have the authority to apply his ruling beyond the Meinhold case that was in his court. But the Pentagon started complying with Hatter's ruling Sept. 30 by ordering the services to stop banning homosexuals.
The Supreme Court's action Friday allows the Pentagon to use the "don't ask, don't tell" policy at least while it is appealing Hatter's ruling.
The high court's ruling, with no dissent recorded, granted the Pentagon's request for a temporary lifting of the lower court order.
The Supreme Court held that the California judge's order may be applied only to Meinhold, the sailor whose case is still pending.
The "don't ask, don't tell" policy was adopted by the Clinton administration as a purported compromise with homosexuals, who once faced an outright ban from service in the military. Clinton first promised in his campaign to lift that ban. But, under pressure from the military and Congress, he adjusted his policy to accept the rules that restrict homosexuality in the military.
Pentagon spokeswoman Kathleen diLaski aid military officials are "pleased" that the Supreme Court will allow the policy to go forward.
But homosexual rights advocates decried the Supreme Court action as "a political decision" by conservative justices. "Our community is very angry," said Peri Jude Radecic, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
She said her group hopes the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California will "make its decision based on reality, not the rhetoric of the Clinton administration and other opponents" of allowing gays to serve openly in the military.
Radecic said homosexuals were surprised that the administration appealed Hatter's ruling, because, if Clinton really wanted to allow gays openly in the service, "here was the out. . . . Here was an opportunity for the president to finally fulfill his promise to the community."
by CNB