THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 2, 1994 TAG: 9409020587
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
A federal court's ruling that the military cannot discharge sailor Keith Meinhold solely for announcing that he is a homosexual ``should have no effect whatsoever'' on the Clinton administration's policy limiting service by gays, a Pentagon spokesman asserted Thursday.
The decision Wednesday by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco was made under a previous policy, Pentagon spokesman Dennis Boxx noted. He said that while service members who say they're gay are presumed to engage in homosexual acts, they now have a chance to present evidence rebutting that presumption.
Meinhold was given no such opportunity two years ago, when he told a national television audience that ``I am in fact gay'' and the Navy offered only that statement as evidence against him. Under Wednesday's ruling, the 32-year-old petty officer's discharge was further stayed and he continues in his job operating airborne sonar equipment.
Dixon Osborn of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which has helped defend gay service members being processed for discharge, argued that despite variations between the old and new policies, the Meinhold ruling has important implications for the Clinton's ``don't ask, don't tell'' standard.
The court effectively ruled that ``if you just make a mere statement (of homosexual orientation), you're supposed to be able to stay in,'' Osborn said. The Pentagon's assertion that members can rebut the presumption of conduct it says is created by such statements is ``a hollow offer,'' Osborn said.
``You're not supposed to (punish) someone without concrete evidence that they've done something wrong,'' Osborn said. No one would suggest that a person who calls himself a robber should go to jail unless there also was evidence he'd committed a specific robbery, he argued.
Navy tribunals this summer have begun hearing the first discharge proceedings brought under the new policy. Lts. Tracy Thorne, a flier formerly based in Virginia Beach, and Dirk Selland, a submariner based in Norfolk, both of whom attained national prominence after announcing that they are gay, were recommended for discharge last month after separate hearings.
Legal experts say the legality of limits on service by gays may not be decided for several years, when the cases of Thorne, Selland, Meinhold and others complete their journey through lower courts and finally are resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court.
KEYWORDS: GAYS IN THE MILITARY by CNB