THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 5, 1994 TAG: 9410050393
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
Even as he fights to stay in the military and overturn its policy toward homosexuals, Navy Lt. j.g. Richard D. ``Dirk'' Selland worries that the Pentagon has hit on another way to get rid of him.
Selland, a former submariner whose activism has made him one of the military's best-known homosexuals, already has been recommended for dismissal based on his declaration that he's gay. He remains at work as a supply officer for Submarine Squadron Six in Norfolk pending a final decision by the Navy brass.
But with a years-long court fight in the offing, Selland now suspects the Navy may try to dispose of him simply by denying him a promotion. A promotion board passed him by last week, despite praise of his work by his boss; rejection by a second board next year would mean automatic discharge.
``It shows their determination to kick him out of any door,'' said Selland's lawyer, Hank Hockeimer of Washington.
However the Navy tries to remove him, Selland will ``pursue every legal avenue available to us to keep him in the Navy,'' Hockeimer promised. He would ``expect a federal court to tell the Navy they can't discharge Lt. Selland on the basis they're trying to,'' he said.
Beatrice Dohrn, legal director of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, a homosexual rights group, agreed that Selland should be able to head off in court any effort to use his promotion failure as a basis for discharge.
But the promotion issue raises another potential barrier to Selland, she said, calling it ``an unfortunate distraction from the real fight.''
As is customary, the Navy gave Selland no formal explanation of why he wasn't promoted. Promotion boards issue lists of approved candidates without commenting on either the successes or the failures.
But Selland and Hockeimer said they're convinced Selland's declarations that he's gay, and his public criticism of the military's ``don't ask, don't tell'' policy toward homosexuals, account for the board's decision.
Selland's most recent fitness report, which a Navy spokesman said would have been reviewed by the promotion board, complimented his work as deputy director of the submarine squadron's small purchase division.
Selland ``is a competent purchasing manager who aggressively applies innovative solutions to problems,'' the report reads. ``Assertive and energetic, he hasdemonstrated an ability to clearly understand the logistics big picture, set priorities, and produce uniformly outstanding results.''
But the report recommended Selland not be promoted because his ``military performance has not met the same high standard that his professional performance has. His continued acknowledgment, in public media, that he is a homosexual is an open violation of Department of Defense policy on homosexual conduct.''
Clearly, it wasn't anything to do with my performance,'' Selland said. His superiors are ``continuing to give me more challenging jobs to do,'' he said, including responsibility for 81 other employees and 200,000 supply requisitions per year.
``We're the ones going out there to buy the baby food and other things to set up the Cuban refugee camps,'' at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, he said.
Selland argued that the Navy should have delayed his promotion board, pending the outcome of his challenge to the policy on service by gays, so that he could be evaluated strictly on his job performance.
But a Navy spokesman said delays aren't permitted. Like every officer, Selland was evaluated for promotion based on a regular schedule, said Lt. Dave Waterman of the Bureau of Naval Personnel.
While acknowledging that she isn't fully acquainted with the specifics of Selland's case, Michelle Beneke, a co-director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, said she knows of several cases in which ``commanders have recommended against promotion based solely on the fact that the person is gay.''
``I don't know if it's systemic, but it's widespread,'' Beneke said. ``And it's occurred across the services in different geographic areas.''
Selland was stationed aboard the submarine Hammerhead in Norfolk when he disclosed his sexual orientation to his commanding officer in January 1993, the day after President Clinton's inauguration.
He has said he came forward on the advice of a chaplain and in the belief that the new president would reverse the military's policy banning service by gays. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Selland's latest fitness report - which would have been reviewed by
the promotions board - praised his work highly. But it recommended
that he not be promoted because his continued public admission that
he is gay violates Defense Department policy.
KEYWORDS: GAYS IN THE MILITARY U.S. NAVY by CNB