Subject: Supreme Court Refusal To Hear Thomasson Case Does not Preclude Challanges
From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 21 Oct 1996 14:14:07 -0400

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NEWS from the
Human Rights Campaign

1101 14th Street NW
Washington, DC 20005
email:  [email-masked]
<A HREF="http://www.hrcusa.org">
WWW:    http://www.hrcusa.org
</A>
________________________________________________________

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.

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