THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 2, 1994 TAG: 9406020487
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOHN BALZAR LOS ANGELES TIMES
DATELINE: 940602 LENGTH: SEATTLE
Army nurse Col. Margarethe Cammermeyer, a Vietnam veteran and Bronze Star recipient, won at least the first step in her case to resume her 26-year military career. And in so ordering, federal District Judge Thomas Zilly held that the military could not discriminate against gays just because of society's prejudices.
{REST} ``Mere negative attitudes, or fear, are constitutionally impermissible bases for discriminatory governmental policies,'' Zilly wrote in his 51-page ruling. ``Prejudice, whether founded on unsubstantiated fears, cultural myths, stereotypes or erroneous assumptions, cannot be the basis for a discriminatory classification.''
Under long-standing but now revised rules of military service, Cammermeyer had been forced out of the military in 1992 after she was asked about her sexual orientation and replied that she was a lesbian. The question arose while she was being interviewed for a security clearance.
At the time, her distinguished service in the Army and the National Guard won her a great many sympathizers, including the governor of Washington and the chief nurse of the Army, who described Cammermeyer as a ``great American.'' Even in discharging her, the military rated her as qualified to lead the Army nurse corps and to represent her profession ``anywhere in the world.''
Since Cammermeyer's discharge, the military has changed its rules regarding sexual orientation. The current policy of the Clinton administration is not to ask uniformed personnel about sexual orientation but to continue to forbid homosexual behavior by men and women in the military.
Attorneys who represent gays and lesbians said Zilly's ruling was significant not only because of Cammermeyer's high rank and long service, but because it was so sweeping and fundamental as to invite a challenge to any type of military discrimination against gays.
``This is a terrific ruling. It's very strong,'' said Mary Newbombe, who worked on Cammermeyer's case as cooperative council for the gay rights Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund.
``The rational that Zilly used, the evidence that he considered, would apply equally to the `don't ask, don't tell' policy,'' she said.
So far, there have been no court rulings on Clinton's military policy toward gays, although a federal judge in April issued a temporary injunction forbidding the discharge of six members of the armed forces who filed suit against it.
Cammermeyer, 52, the mother of four, now works at the Veterans Administration hospital at American Lake, near Tacoma, Wash. She described herself Wednesday as ``absolutely ecstatic.''
``It seems like a vindication of all the struggles so many of us have had. I can't say that I'm speechless - I can't afford to be. It's just very exciting.''
Her attorneys said they hoped Cammermeyer might instantly be reinstated with the state National Guard. But in the two previous 9th Circuit cases - including that of sailor Keith Meinhold, who won a lower-court ruling saying the military's exclusion of homosexuals was unconstitutional - the Pentagon has appealed and very well may in this one, too.
{KEYWORDS} LESBIAN MILITARY HOMOSEXUAL GAYS IN THE MILITARY by CNB