THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 5, 1994 TAG: 9406050033
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
DATELINE: 940605 LENGTH: SEATTLE
To be ``all that you can be,'' she says with deliberate irony in referring to a military slogan.
{REST} Elated yet apprehensive, Col. ``Grethe'' Cammermeyer is waiting to hear when she can return to the Washington National Guard after a federal court ruling Wednesday that many attorneys and human-rights advocates believe could chip away at military policies regarding gays.
The ruling, handed down by U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly in Seattle, declared that Cammermeyer's constitutional rights to equal protection were violated when she was discharged from military service in 1992 for disclosing that she is a lesbian.
Cammermeyer's attorneys expect the government will appeal the decision. The U.S. Justice Department has not said what it will do.
Cammermeyer, who received the Bronze Star after 14 months of duty in Vietnam and a doctorate in nursing during 26 years of exemplary military service, said the ruling marked a ``triumph of the human spirit. The ruling is a step in addressing much broader issues of human rights for all of us and a confirmation - it's easy for me to get choked up about this - that the constitution does work.''
In the 51-page ruling, Zilly wrote that Cammermeyer was discharged under a military policy ``based solely on prejudice'' and ordered she be immediately reinstated.
Cammermeyer, 52, knows that under current military policy, ``I could be reinstated tomorrow and discharged if I tell them I'm gay.''
Still, she remains buoyed by the ruling.
``There's an excitement and a hope now for the continuation of this release from bondage of having to hide your sexuality and the burden of hiding you have a free life,'' she said.
Cammermeyer says she is nervous about the return to military life after two years of civilian life - ``about how things will work out and how I'll fit in.''
The former chief nurse of the Washington National Guard has been working at the Veterans Administration Hospital at American Lake near Tacoma. ``Because I have no anonymity, I have a certain sense of tension,'' she said. ``Not everybody likes me or what I rep-re-sent.''
Cammermeyer is determined to go back and to serve, although she realizes that civilian life also can be a social force.
``When you're in the military, you believe your existence is based on being saviors of freedom in the world. You believe deep in your heart that without you, the whole world will disintegrate,'' she said.
She said she is ``a bit more laid back now.''
Cammermeyer said that before she disclosed that she was a lesbian in a 1989 security clearance interview, she was a member of the ``silent, middle-class majority'' that ``didn't realize there was such a thing as social causes.''
Since being discharged, Cammermeyer found there are people who ``donate their time, energies and whole beings to trying to right the wrongs in society.
``I was astounded by the outpouring of love and support I experienced. It was a different world.''
Cammermeyer was discharged under a military policy that required automatic discharge for admitting that one is gay. A so-called ``don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue'' policy implemented last year no longer requires that applicants for military service disclose their sexual orientation. But it also states that homosexual conduct is grounds for discharge.
It is not homosexuality that undermines military morale, Cammermeyer said, but a host of other causes the military must address. She said the misuse of power - seeking sexual favors to achieve professional advancement - undermines morale whether initiated by heterosexuals or homosexuals.
She said morale could be bolstered by ``consistency in how policies are enforced,'' doing away with sexual and verbal harassment, and ``treating enlisted people like human beings, not animals.
Cammermeyer knows that her views are incompatible with that of many religious groups. But she says she belongs to a local church community ``that believes that we as individuals on Earth are representing God in our time here and that the work we do and how we are is a reflection of the spirit of God.''
And while she is eager to return to the military, she said she is willing to fight her case all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.
``For me, this is very much a spiritual mission,'' she said quietly. ``I feel as though I'm supposed to be doing this.''
{KEYWORDS} GAYS IN THE MILITARY by CNB