Subject: Gays in the Military Case Argued in Seattle
From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 4 Mar 1996 19:19:09 -0500

AMERICAN  CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION
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News from the ACLU National Headquarters

               ACLU Argues Gays in the Military Case 
              Before Federal Appeals Court in Seattle

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Monday, March 4, 1996

SEATTLE, Wash. -- A challenge to the Pentagon's two-year-old  law
barring lesbians and gay men from openly serving in the military was
argued today before a three-judge panel of the United States Ninth
Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle, Wash.

    The case, filed on behalf of former Navy Petty Officer Mark
Philips, contends that the current "don't ask, don't tell, don't
pursue" ban on gays in the military violates the constitutional
guarantees of equal protection and free speech, and is based solely
on the government's fear that heterosexual troops are prejudiced
against lesbians and gay men.

    Matt Coles, Director of the National Lesbian and Gay Rights
Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, said the case is the
first to focus on the "conduct" portion of the ban, which permits
heterosexuals to engage in private sexual conduct, but which forbids
all intimate relationships for lesbians and gay men.

    "This case goes to the heart of the government's prejudice against
lesbians and gay men," said Coles, who argued the appeal.  "Under this
law, gay servicemembers are discharged for acts of intimacy and love
which everyone else may participate in freely.  This violates the
basic premise of our Constitution, which was written precisely to
prevent laws that apply to only one group of Americans."

    Philips was serving aboard the aircraft carrier U.S. Nimitz in
Bremerton, Wash. when he disclosed his sexual orientation to a
commanding officer shortly after President Clinton was elected in
November 1992.  Philips, who had received many commendations including
a Bronze star for his service in Desert Storm, came out of the closet
in part to demonstrate that the ban costs money and valuable
personnel.  (According to a General Accounting Office report issued
in 1992, approximately 17,000 lesbian and gay men were discharged
between 1980 and 1990 at a cost of $500 million to taxpayers.)

    In December 1992, while responding to questions from the ship's
legal officer, Philips said that he has had intimate relationships
with men off-base, and would continue to do so.  None of his partners
were in the military.

    The case is on appeal from a federal district court in Seattle,
which issued a summary judgment last March in favor of the government,
which had argued that none of Philip's constitutional rights has been
infringed. 

    "Mark Philips has given over four years of his life to serving our
country," Coles said.  "History will find it appalling that his
military career was cut short just to satisfy an out-dated
stereotype."

    The ACLU is also counsel in two other challenges to the military's
current ban.  In New York, the ACLU represents six lesbian and gay
service members who won an important ruling last March from a federal
judge who held the law was unconstitutional (Able v. USA).  In
Virginia, the ACLU is assisting Navy Lieutenant Paul Thomasson in his
lawsuit.  Both cases are currently awaiting a federal appeals court
decision.
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Contact:  Denny Lee, (212) 944-9800 ext. 424

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