Judege Rules US Ban on Openly Gay Service Personnel is Unconstitutional

[Bec]

(Sept. 10) -- A federal judge in Riverside, Calif., has ruled that the U.S. military's ban on openly gay service personnel is unconstitutional, declaring that the so-called "don't ask, don't tell'' policy violates the First and Fifth Amendment rights of lesbians and gay men.

In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips said that Justice Department attorneys had failed to prove that the policy "significantly furthers government interests in military readiness or troop cohesion, or that discharge is necessary to those interests."

By contrast, Phillips noted that booting homosexuals out of the armed forces actually damaged military readiness, as these men and women possessed "critically needed skills ... including Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, or Korean language fluency; military intelligence; counterterrorism; weapons development; and medicine."

She also noted that the Pentagon routinely delayed discharging troops suspected of violating the policy until they had completed tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that the number of discharges has fallen significantly since the beginning of the Afghan conflict in 2001. That suggested the military knew that the presence of openly gay personnel on the front lines had no impact on its war-fighting capabilities.

Read the full article here

[GayGeek]

Ayup. It puts President Obama in a difficult position. Consider this.

President Obama publicly opposes gay marriage, while Ted Olson, Dick Cheney, and former RNC chair Ken Melhman all support it.

The Log Cabin Republicans file suit against Don't Ask, Don't Tell while President Obama's administration actively works to defend it in court. Should his administration appeal the decision and argue all the same crap arguments ("it lowers morale and unit cohesion blah blah blah") that he himself says isn't true, gays are gonna scream.

All of this makes one wonder as gay men, just which party we are supposed to be voting for.

--Aaron

PS, Put another way: If the government appeals Judge Phillips' decision, voting this fall is going to be like the South Park episode where the only choices were a "giant douche" and a "turd sandwich".