THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 9, 1995 TAG: 9511090353
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
Lt. j.g. Richard ``Dirk'' Selland, a Norfolk-based Navy supply officer who was to be discharged this week because he is homosexual, won a court order Wednesday that apparently will keep him in uniform while he continues to fight the military's policy on gays.
Senior U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Young blocked the Navy from dismissing Selland for 90 days, or until the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond rules on Selland's challenge to the ``don't ask, don't tell'' policy.
Young himself upheld that policy, and cleared the way for Selland to be discharged, in a ruling last week. The judge threw out a variety of claims by Selland, including his argument that the Navy wants to punish him simply for speaking about his sexual orientation - not for actually committing homosexual acts.
In a military setting, Young said, the Constitution's guarantee of freedom of speech must give way to Congress' decision that ``homosexual acts are disruptive to the military's mission and the military must be allowed to take prompt precautionary measures to prevent such disruption.''
But Young apparently agreed with Selland's lawyers that the officer would be irrevocably damaged if he were dismissed and the policy later overturned by a higher court.
Under the policy, gays can serve if they keep their orientation a secret and abstain from homosexual acts. But a military member's statements of homosexuality create a presumption that he or she has committed or intends to commit those acts.
Selland declared his homosexuality in early 1993; he says he stepped forward in the belief that President Clinton was about to lift restrictions on military service by gays. The Navy has never produced evidence that he has committed homosexual acts but Selland has declined to produce evidence that he is celibate and intends to remain sexually inactive.
Selland, a Maryland resident, is a supply officer who has been working as a deputy director of the Fleet Industrial Supply Center in Norfolk. He is the top uniformed officer in the center's small purchases operation.
He said Wednesday that he had cleaned out his desk and taken his personal belongings home, expecting that today would be his last day at the office. His orders call for him to be out of the Navy by Monday, which is a holiday, so Friday was to be his last day in the Navy.
Selland said another officer has been assigned to replace him. It was unclear Wednesday what job the Navy will give him while his case continues in the courts.
KEYWORDS: GAYS IN THE MILITARY NAVY HOMOSEXUALS APPEAL by CNB