Court's lesbian ruling creates military dilemma
Margaret Witt By Fisher News and AP Writer Gene JohnsonSEATTLE – The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that, for a gay service member's discharge to be constitutional, the military must demonstrate the firing promotes "cohesion or discipline in the unit" in all Western States. The appeals court ruling comes after the federal appeals court in June 2009 allowed an Air Force major from Washington state, Margaret Witt, to sue over her dismissal by citing the "cohesion" doctrine. The decorated flight nurse was dismissed from the military after she was found to have been in a lesbian relationship. The original "cohesion" rule was set in 2008, however it has been largely overlooked. The most recent court decision forces the military to apply this higher threshold in determining whether a service member should be dismissed for being gay. Government officials told they Associated Press they won't further appeal this ruling, which was made by a three-judge Circuit Court panel. The law applies to all nine states covered by the 9th court, including Oregon, Washington, Idaho and California. Military personnel in Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Montana and Nevada also are covered by the ruling. This, according to insiders, means gay military members at bases in the West technically have greater protections against "don't ask, don't tell" dismissals than their colleagues across the world – presenting several problems for the Pentagon now that the Obama administration has embarked on a yearlong review of "don't ask, don't tell." "It's muddled things up for the military," said Rep. Vic Snyder, an Arkansas Democrat who serves on the House Armed Services Committee. "They really haven't started grappling with it yet, and I don't think they know how to respond." Defense Secretary Robert Gates acknowledged in congressional testimony recently that the Pentagon must devise "new rules and procedures" in response to the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit's decision. The "don't ask, don't tell" policy was established in 1993. President Bill Clinton had to abandon efforts to allow gays to serve openly in the armed forces after facing strong resistance from the military and members of Congress. Judges in the Witt case said the legal landscape changed when the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003 struck down a Texas ban on sodomy as an unconstitutional intrusion on privacy. |
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February 9, 2012
- Roseburg, Oregon
