US NEWS/ FED JUDGE RULES DADT UNCONSTITUTIONAL

A federal judge ruled yesterday that the “don’t ask, don’t tell" policy toward gay members of the military is unconstitutional. Judge Virginia A. Phillips of Federal District Court struck down the rule in an opinion issued late in the day. The policy was signed into law in 1993 as a compromise that would allow gay and lesbian soldiers to serve in the military. The rule limits the military’s ability to ask about the sexual orientation of service members, and allows homosexuals to serve, as long as they do not disclose their orientation and do not engage in homosexual acts. The plaintiffs challenged the law under the Fifth and First Amendments to the Constitution, and Judge Phillips agreed. “The don’t ask, don’t tell act infringes the fundamental rights of United States service members in many ways,” she wrote. “In order to justify the encroachment on these rights, defendants faced the burden at trial of showing the don’t ask, don’t tell act was necessary to significantly further the government’s important interests in military readiness and unit cohesion. Defendants failed to meet that burden.” The rule, she wrote in an 86-page opinion, has a “direct and deleterious effect” on the armed services. The decision is among a number of recent rulings that suggest a growing judicial skepticism about measures that discriminate against homosexuals, including rulings against California’s ban on same-sex marriage and a Massachusetts decision striking down a federal law forbidding the federal government to recognize same-sex marriage. It will not change the policy right away; the judge called for the plaintiffs to submit a proposed injunction limiting the law by September 16. The defendants will submit their objections to the plan a week after that. Any decision would probably be stayed pending appeals. The suit was brought by the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay organization. The case, which was heard in July, involved testimony from 6 military officers who had been discharged because of the policy. Michael Almy, was an Air Force major who was serving his 3rd tour of duty in Iraq when someone using his computer found at least 1 message to a man discussing homosexual conduct.  Another plaintiff, John Nicholson, was going through training for intelligence work in the Army and tried to conceal his sexual orientation by writing to a friend in Portuguese. A fellow service member who was also fluent in that language, however, read the letter on his desk and rumors spread throughout his unit. When Nicholson asked a platoon sergeant to help quash the rumors, the sergeant instead informed his superiors, who initiated discharge proceedings. As a candidate for president, Senator Barack Obama vowed to end “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Once elected, he remained critical of the policy but said it was the role of Congress to change the law; the Justice Department has continued to defend the law in court. In February, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, asked Congress to allow gays to serve openly by repealing the law. The House has voted for repeal, but the Senate has not yet acted.