Gay and Lesbian Repiblicans sue over "don't ask don't tell"

[bigpoppanils]

Gay and lesbian Republicans sue over 'don't ask, don't tell'

Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/10/13/MNGT398QVQ1.DTL

Log Cabin Republicans widened their breach with the Bush administration Tuesday by filing a lawsuit challenging the "don't ask, don't tell'' law, which prohibits gays and lesbians from serving openly in the armed forces.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, contends previous rulings upholding the 1993 law have been undermined by U.S. Supreme Court rulings on gay rights -- in particular, last year's decision that overturned state criminal laws against private homosexual conduct.

"Recent decisions by the United States Supreme Court have developed the constitutional rights of gay and lesbian Americans,'' the suit said. "These recent developments require an immediate reconsideration of the policy.''

The don't ask, don't tell policy violates the rights of privacy, free speech and equal protection, is based solely on prejudice and serves no legitimate government or military purpose, the suit contends.

Log Cabin Republicans, the nation's largest organization of gay and lesbian Republicans, supported President Bush in 2000 but announced recently that they would not back him this year because of his endorsement of a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage.

Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate, opposes the constitutional amendment and the don't ask, don't tell policy. He and Bush are scheduled to debate domestic issues tonight in Tempe, Ariz., in the last of their three debates.

Marty Meekins, the group's attorney, said that the suit had been under preparation for months and that its timing was unrelated to the debate or the Nov. 2 election.

"We have filed the case as soon as we were ready,'' he said. "I don't think the constitutional rights of any American should be subject to the vagaries of any election.'' He also noted that the 1993 law implementing the Defense Department policy had been signed by a Democratic president, Bill Clinton.

Tuesday's suit was filed against the government and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke, a Pentagon spokeswoman, told the Associated Press that the Defense Department couldn't change its policy unless the federal law was changed.

The policy replaced the military's ban on gays and lesbians in its ranks. Clinton had proposed repealing the ban, but yielded to opposition from military leaders and lawmakers and adopted a policy, quickly enacted into law by Congress, that allowed gays and lesbians to serve in secret.

Under the policy, service members can't be asked about their sexual orientation but are subject to discharge if they state publicly that they are gay or lesbian or if they engage in homosexual conduct, which can include holding hands with a member of the same sex. They can avoid discharge by proving that they will not engage in homosexual conduct during military service and have no propensity to do so.

A recent report by the pro-gay Service Members Legal Defense Network found that nearly 10,000 people had been discharged under the policy but that discharges had dropped by 38 percent during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq - - from 1,273 in 2001 to 787 last year.

"This undercuts the very rationale given by the military,'' Meekins said. "The government and many people in the military say the policy is needed because we can't have any threat to unit cohesion, yet when we are at a time of war ... when unit cohesion is most needed, you see a significant drop in discharges.''

The policy has never been reviewed directly by the U.S. Supreme Court, but the court has denied hearings on appeals from rulings by lower federal courts upholding don't ask, don't tell. Meekins said those rulings, which deferred to congressional judgment in military matters, had been issued while laws in a number of states made private homosexual conduct a crime, under the authority of a 1986 Supreme Court ruling.

Since the court overturned the 1986 ruling in last year's decision, he said, "the foundations of those cases are now gone.''

[ou812]

Irony?

[obby]

Lesbians against Bush ?????

Isn't that an oxymoron ?????

[igloo]

LOG CABIN REPUBLICANS CHASTISE BOTH CAMPAIGNS: "For Sen. Kerry and Sen. Edwards, you do not need to talk about the Vice President's daughter in order to discuss your positions on gay and lesbian issues. For President Bush and Karl Rove, you have a moral obligation to stop using gay and lesbian families as a political wedge issue