From: Hrccomm@aol.com Date: Mon, 21 Oct 1996 14:14:07 -0400 Subject: Supreme Court Refusal To Hear Thomasson Case Does not Preclude Challanges ________________________________________________________ NEWS from the Human Rights Campaign 1101 14th Street NW Washington, DC 20005 email: communications@hrcusa.org WWW: http://www.hrcusa.org ________________________________________________________ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, Oct. 21, 1996 SUPREME COURT REFUSAL TO HEAR THOMASSON CASE DOES NOT PRECLUDE CHALLENGES TO FULL POLICY, HRC NOTES Looks Forward to Challenge of Both Speech and Conduct Prohibitions WASHINGTON -- The Human Rights Campaign is confident that the Supreme Court will soon hear a challenge to the government's anti-gay military policy, a spokeswoman said today after the court declined to hear the first such case to reach it. "It is not surprising that the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear the case brought by Lt. Paul Thomasson," said Chai Feldblum, HRC's legal consultant and a law professor at Georgetown University. "This was the first challenge of the `don't ask, don't tell' policy to reach the Supreme Court, so it would have been highly unusual for the court to take it." Thomasson, who was discharged from the Navy after telling his commanding officer he is gay, sought to prove that the anti-gay military policy was an unconstitutional infringement on his freedom of speech. "There are other, more broad-reaching challenges to the policy currently making their way through the courts now," Feldblum noted. "We anticipate that the Supreme Court will decide to hear a case that challenges not only the question of speech, but the policy's prohibition against conduct." Feldblum said the Thomasson case only challenged half of the current policy because it did not address the issue of behavior. "Until the conduct prohibition of the military's policy has been addressed, this country has a double standard for servicemembers," Feldblum writes in the Oct. 21 edition of The National Law Journal. "A heterosexual servicemember may, without fear of punishment, kiss, hug, hold hands and have consensual sex ... with a partner in the privacy of his or her home. By contrast, a gay servicemember who engages in the identical sexual conduct with a partner in the privacy of his or her home is subject to mandatory discharge." The Human Rights Campaign is the largest national lesbian and gay political organization, with members throughout the country. It effectively lobbies Congress, provides campaign support and educates the public to ensure that lesbian and gay Americans can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community. - 30 -