THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Monday, May 22, 1995                   TAG: 9505220048
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: WUERZBURG, GERMANY                 LENGTH: Short :   29 lines

JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN THINKS COURT WILL BACK ``DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL''

Gen. John M. Shalikashvili is confident that the Pentagon's controversial policy on gays in the military will be upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, he said Sunday.

The 2-year-old ``don't ask, don't tell'' policy, which lets gays stay in the armed forces as long as they keep their sexual orientation to themselves and aren't caught in homosexual activity, is under legal attack.

In April, a federal judge in Baltimore ordered the Navy not to kick out a gay lieutenant.

Shalikashvili, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said he was convinced that the issue would go before the Supreme Court and that the policy would be upheld.

Shalikashvili was in Wuerzburg to receive the Lucius D. Clay Medal for his work promoting U.S.-German friendship.

KEYWORDS: HOMOSEXUALS GAYS MILITARY by CNB