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

DATE: MONDAY, October 17, 1994                   TAG: 9410180056
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES                                 LENGTH: Short

PENTAGON QUITS FIGHTING REINSTATEMENT OF GAY

The government isn't challenging an appellate ruling that says the armed forces can bar gays for having sex but not for merely ``coming out.''

The Pentagon and the Justice Department allowed Friday's deadline for appealing the ruling to expire, said John McGuire, who represents the subject of the ruling, Keith Meinhold.

Meinhold, who announced he is gay in 1992, was discharged under old military regulations that treated declarations of homosexuality as grounds for discharge.

In its ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it was deciding only the validity of that outdated policy, not the validity of the current ``don't ask, don't tell'' policy.

In upholding the reinstatement, the court said a declaration of homosexuality was not the same as an intention to engage in homosexual acts during military service.

by CNB