LAMBDA LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUCATION FUND 
           STATEMENT ON GOVERNMENT'S APPEAL IN STEFFAN V. ASPIN

                             December 30, 1993


CONTACT:

Evan Wolfson  718-636-6072
Marc Wolinsky 212-371-9200


     On November 16, in a case brought by Joseph Steffan, a naval
midshipman represented by Lambda, the D.C. Circuit Court of
Appeals declared the military's anti-gay discriminatory policy
to be unconstitutional and ordered that Steffan be granted his
diploma and commission.  

     Today the government filed a petition asking the full court
to reconsider limited aspects of the decision related to
Steffan's commission, but not the constitutionality of the
underlying policy.  
     
     Steffan's attorneys, Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund,
the nation's oldest and largest gay legal rights organization,
had this statement: 

     "We are disappointed by the government's petty effort to
continue denying an outstanding midshipman his commission," said
Lambda Senior Staff Attorney Evan Wolfson, one of Steffan's
lawyers.  

     "At the same time we are pleased that the government
apparently is not challenging the key principles of the Steffan
decision:  that the military is not exempt from the Constitution;
that in America we judge people, whether gay or non-gay, by what
they do, not by who they are; and that it is unconstitutional to
discriminate against one group of Americans because of the
presumed prejudices of others," said Wolfson.

     Wolfson added that the government's latest effort to deny
Steffan a commission on grounds of separation of power was ill-
founded and that Steffan expects to prevail on the government's
petition.  "The government has never raised this issue before,
and it is too late to raise it now," said Wolfson.

     Noting that Lambda and the ACLU were preparing to file a new
court challenge to the latest version of the anti-gay policy "in
the next few weeks," Wolfson said.  "This civil rights issue will
not go away until gay men and lesbians are free to serve our
country equally and openly, judged by the same standards of
conduct as all other Americans."