Box Turtle Bulletin

Box Turtle BulletinNews, analysis and fact-checking of anti-gay rhetoric
“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
This article can be found at:
Latest Posts

Court Rules Against Military Gay Ban

Timothy Kincaid

May 21st, 2008

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that the Military must prove that a dismissal furthers the military’s goals of troop readiness and unit cohesion to justify dismissing any specific gay serviceperson.

“When the government attempts to intrude upon the personal and private lives of homosexuals, the government must advance an important governmental interest … and the intrusion must be necessary to further that interest,” wrote Judge Ronald M. Gould.

Now it has been my observation that many of the personnel dismissed over Don’t Ask – Don’t Tell served honorably, worked well with their unit, and added to cohesion and troop readiness. Often their immediate supervisors sought to keep the gay servicemen. So I think the Military will find this a rather steep obstacle.

This ruling does not invalidate the military policy. And we must recognize that the 9th Circuit is the most overruled of all appeals courts. But if it stands, it may well make DADT so toothless as to be unenforceable.

The personal life situation upon which this decision rests illustrates the foolish and unnecessary nature of this law.

Maj. Margaret Witt, a flight nurse based at McChord Air Force Base near Tacoma, was suspended without pay in 2004 after the Air Force received a tip that she had been in a long-term relationship with a civilian woman. Witt was honorably discharged in October 2007 after having put in 18 years — two short of what she needed to receive retirement benefits.

Witt joined the Air Force in 1987 and switched from active duty to the reserves in 1995. She cared for injured patients on military flights and in operating rooms. She was promoted to major in 1999, and she deployed to Oman in 2003 in support of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.

A citation from President Bush that year said, “Her airmanship and courage directly contributed to the successful accomplishment of important missions under extremely hazardous conditions.”

Her suspension and discharge came during a shortage of flight nurses and outraged many of her colleagues — one of whom, a sergeant, retired in protest.

Now Maj. Witt’s lawsuit can go forward. I wish her well.

Comments

POST COMMENT | COMMENT RSS 2.0 | TRACKBACK URL

There are no comments for this post.

Leave A Comment

All comments reflect the opinions of commenters only. They are not necessarily those of anyone associated with Box Turtle Bulletin. Comments are subject to our Comments Policy.

(Required)
(Required, never shared)

PLEASE NOTE: All comments are subject to our Comments Policy.