THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 18, 1995 TAG: 9506180060
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
The Navy has stopped trying to discharge a lesbian reserve officer, and she plans to celebrate by marching today in the city's gay and lesbian parade.
``I'm looking forward to marching . . . without fear of looking over my shoulder,'' Lt. Cmdr. (Select) Zoe Dunning said at a news conference Friday. ``From this day forward, I serve as an open lesbian in the U.S. military, with the military's condonement.''
Federal courts around the country have differed on the constitutionality of the Clinton administration's ``don't ask, don't tell'' policy barring service members from declaring their homosexuality. The issue is expected to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
Dunning acknowledged that she has no guarantee that if the policy prevails, the Navy might not bring a fresh case against her.
Dunning's case was the fourth time that gay service members have satisfied a military tribunal that they would not engage in homosexual acts, Yost said.
But Matt Coles, head of the American Civil Liberties Union gay and lesbian rights project, maintains it is the first time the military has backed down, without being forced by a court, from trying to expel an openly gay service member under the current policy.
The decision amounts to a ``street precedent,'' without weight in the courts but still important as a sign of progress, he said.
The Navy followed the recommendation of a hearing tribunal, which voted unanimously in December to keep Dunning despite her disclosing her sexual orientation at a 1993 rally.
The Navy's two-paragraph letter informed her that ``your administrative separation case proceedings are closed, and you will be retained in the Naval Service.''
All records of naval prosecutors' efforts to obtain an honorable discharge against her will be purged from her files, the Navy wrote.
Dunning credited her good service record, noting that the Navy promoted her even as it tried to discharge her. Also she acknowledged she has the good fortune to be in a city where the federal appeals court took her side in the past when it ruled that Navy Petty Officer Keith Meinhold may stay in the service.
Dunning, 31, served six years in the Navy before transferring to the Reserves. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Zoe Dunning, in Reserves
KEYWORDS: GAYS IN THE MILITARY U.S. NAVY by CNB