[The military's crumbling gay ban: the year in review] Page: 3 of 6
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____________________________ ITHE LAMU. A UPDATE
The Military's Crumbling Gay Ban: The Year in Review yMayNewcombe .
The var 191 was a Vatersf ed :ar1 o1r
battle against the Artmed Forces to revFrse
the pit]ky xcludi lesbians and gay men-%
from military servc, N onyi. e our
S legal chal enget k pr the ntaonts
Dcpa-trt ,,j!f Defense scr mbitng, w e
hav vf-,Vailed i1 the =r.. tat.s ba e fo'r Pul-
-ir nini r 1 dm di or
the h unrer b f ' <3&ti" s L F g men nrdt
enT at;whT ase c ntffer by m m..
tbe regrettah u iuAup j0 es orhe
Lan eic the bac ah af iW th pc
dosn ha ed it a n- he i i" 'Dr'.
Dom 13.i Vn . ..Lh,3. o
y ngrdt}-n 5 Sdd anid i.:bd t.
cl E :1 e A m 1 1. .. .1w.. T nd i1S 4' b '4' rye
tocsreuo i {.t e " ? t U4~! % xoponepo-
} re eredts"stop io a sbil -e E:ntn
Sersia m n f t t p -terorce
a nume ihm r ~em -- Af r fit:f<~ t
before :he d ate - hedule:s' na thoe
ar.t!-gayv polh in '~r Iyes -f khe pumc
With the du~a. p ixses of maijninv :h
pressure on the I)mge an prtcag
and lesbian pisone I am a op ened
a number of 'eracem 1,be w--o '-t' t to
serve cpeniy in the Gu'f Ii we a'th
who faced pr : trir becau' " f thz:r
sexual Ordnio Wth tii sitmne cf
Congressman - d u- a itctwok of
cooperating adimn Erndci legaM w-crers. &e
Aere successful :n a rmg h nerabe dis-
charges for mnst *;?t- ee ankemembers
"'twi, contacted us befo they ;ere sipped
off to the Persian Gulf.
Capitaizing on this urge f a.1 ity and
interest, Conguressm fmdds wjeaI a e to
secure the signatures cf forty trembers or
Congress for an open letter to President
Bush calling for an end to the poucy.
Meanwhile, c'n campuses around the coun-
try, students mobilized opposition to ROTC
and won agreerneirs from administrators to
ban ROTC if the pohcy is not changed
within the next four years.During this time, on June 26th, the news-
paper USA 7d, in an article entitled
"Gay "Witch .cunt' Charged," reported
S poi lomrEissioned by the Human
Ri hts Campaign Fund found that 81% of
Aierica;ns Edieved that if a gay or k'sbian
-e'ic cmrnbc was doing a g l job, he Or
,h s:;houla \ discharged. Another poll,
co n3 'ct, anc 'dpnted in Time NsMagazine
n Asg Ey -- LTy 319 edition, found that a
o"n y of Americans were also
ag-I TI be een though the question
SYtit: ra med rntCly: . ".Sl ld htimic-
sauk b a o -ServeA the rntar?"
inl. Jn& rhe A i orce sto't ed- WVaJ;
g at u hc 'deayed the dis harge
Capt Gri-I Ci y f-nLwing his partk i-
'awr G nY: . _r.m...5Aa ^t e p ened 1yx de n r j,'7 d
th"- pne Idt u F1rce' pt Chme o t
he t c fth yAit':
yV rr' ~ ~ O-iPnac-
Secre~ar a -' ( 0 Dicsarth ney n
e mevre d the f'r ay hye r iti;ring the :Aitr
F' rtc uc Cu d-efendug the policy
bas-e . on ecri concerias osie he
d.mjt -, - ua-. t e presence or "at r e
b . -m ar'of _ bitand rt bit n o l-
*r s mic e 2acomtre nditChne of ~h
n;r _ $' ! ? re trof the sum-m-eae i
a f.T--Or sircuou, thu tort-S rlgat Pentaon
Tokeseren ee Wilams in a
b ii.. t me:rn whn CongFress man B arney
FStkki qui: Cheney about the poic-y.
Cht'erlSy che d ilthe policyfasf one the
:ghad mne t:ed"e ma he hadkn cdgedhzed
;r-4a e jit+mOvun avi ga+ Upersn-
lci August Tse i- aste ou ato od Wa
1 -Ch ri', Chedi.erelyrehadpno ubtbedhe< <u-
ln-. ,c;Since June ab ert t ffiniL bts of the
sentuagns ar e searh stud (released in
a _h:nt,'ter:rug..' thru effortsof Congressan
St.udfe-cnu'edg iithtgays iare not a secu-
tyi He cooldalso n afford to have h
ninghtk *lg ei fet hute had jeopardized
Sld by conchm aout gay nthgbAsista
Secretxary of Defens e.
In Augtosh, The Adv ocae outed Williamls,
TeS Sa'ht Media Merely re soted the out-
ing ofe "seiedprpentagon official" but the
issue 'w.as wl-ti1s-rved by a renewed tide of
rmrdia interecr in the policy, Cheney, to his
credit defentded iiamns in an interview
Y it's Sant Donaldson and stated that he had
no intention of firing him. But he defended
the policy, roco, and ,rated that i was Justi-
fied by conicenis about gays in the battle-
tfild, another Frequently-cited reason based
on the presumed prejudice of heterosexualserv t.emen.
It was against this charged national back-
drop that the Ninth Circuit finally released
its decision in frai t, t' Cheney. Dusty Pruitt,
an Anmy Reserve captain and Metropolitan
Community Church pastor, challenged her
discha:ge from the Army Reserves follow-
tn- the publication of a Los Angeles Times
inort--w in which she discussed her sexual
crientation atnd her ministry. The Ninth
Cuit rECinstated h-r case and held that the
A-may woltd have .- demonstrate a legiti-
xa e riora basis, for its policy not found-
ed on the prejudice of others. This major
deias=tn allows Prort to test the Army's evi-:
de:ice ar-d show that it is based on prejudice
a- s-reotypes about lesbians and gay men.
I'a whose case was initially filed by the
AC t Foudation of Southern California,
i.- now ioumit represented by the ACLU and
Laii1 n.itt was named The Advocaze's
onmal. 7; te Year for her courage in chal-
['01th tori
Nratnie h a-other Lambda client was
C rIed to defend he-self in July at an admin-
-taiv hearing t >Cdetermine whether she
or, d eea from the Washington
Cu - N4i'nal Guard Colonel Margarethe
a-mer -eyer, a Vtetnam veteran and
~on" Star rteipiern with 26 years of miii-
y 9_':"' r .n d who is Chief Nurse of the
'Valitngton State National Guard, disclosed
her --'-a or-'entatio hiduring a security
s::ranc investigation. In concluding that
the policy required Cammermeyer's dis-
cha.ge, the board described her as "one of
the great Americans" and bemoaned its "sad
duty" to recommend the termination of her
i ita , ser~ icc Led by C-ntgressman
Gcrr, Sr dds, the Washington Congres-
onaI delegation protested her discharge.
oar+.d \ushirgtn dGovernor Booth Gardner
has requeste that She be retained in the
Guard. As of this writing, she is still an
rC mc we c r of the Guard and reports that
he has received oniy support from her feb
1ow Guardmembcrs. Her formal discharge
and court case against the National Guard
But it is in the case of Joe Steffan that,
most eloquently illustrates the dramatic
events of the past year. Steffan, represent-
ed by Lambda and Cooperating Attorney
Marc Woliosky, is challenging his dis-
missal from the Naval Academy just
weeks before his graduation, Last spring,
in a hearing to determine which docu-
ments the government should be com-
pelled to release in defense of its policy,
U.s. District Judge Oliver Gasch referred,
continued on page 2<Ai
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[The military's crumbling gay ban: the year in review], article, November 18, 1992; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc916572/m1/3/: accessed June 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.