[Vision2020] Something to Ponder

[Tom Hansen]

I ask:  Of the 58,195 names on the Vietnam Memorial Wall, how many belong 
to gay soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines?

To those Visionaires who believe homosexuality to be a sin:  Of those 
homosexual soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines, referenced above, how 
many do you believe deserved to die?

>From today's (May 22, 2008) Spokesman Review -

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'Don't ask' challenge reinstated 
Court calls for scrutiny of military policy on gays

OLYMPIA – The military cannot automatically discharge people because 
they're gay, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday in a case involving 
an Air Force nurse from Spokane.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated 
Maj. Margaret Witt's constitutional challenge to the military's "don't 
ask, don't tell" ban on sexually active gay men and lesbians. A lower 
court had thrown out the case.

Wednesday's ruling doesn't get Witt back into the Air Force. It called for 
more fact-finding so a court can weigh her rights against the Air Force's 
rationale for the ban.

But in what could prove to be a critical turning point, the judges also 
indicated that the long-standing military policy merits stricter scrutiny 
because of a landmark 2003 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. 

No other court, according to the Air Force, has ever said that.

An attorney for Witt, James Lobsenz, hailed the ruling as the beginning of 
the end for "don't ask, don't tell."

"If the various branches of the Armed Forces have to start proving each 
application of the policy makes sense, then it's not going to be only Maj. 
Witt who's going to win," Lobsenz said. "Eventually, they're going to 
say, 'This is dumb … it's time to scrap the policy.' "

Witt said Wednesday she was thrilled. While the military maintains that 
sexually active gays and lesbians threaten morale, Witt says she was a key 
part of a tight-knit unit.

If anything hurt morale, she says, it was the Air Force's removal of an 
experienced, decorated flight nurse during a war. Years after being forced 
to leave, she's still in touch with members of her unit and has been 
invited to its 50th anniversary celebration.

"I still miss my Air Force family and would love the opportunity to 
fulfill my duties and be there to help anybody that needs it," she said.

A spokesman at Witt's former Air Force unit didn't return a call seeking 
comment on the case.

Witt joined the Air Force in 1987, becoming a reservist in 1995. She lived 
in Spokane; her unit worked out of McChord Air Force Base near Tacoma.

She was promoted to major, served in the Persian Gulf, and was awarded 
several service medals. For more than a decade, her photo was featured in 
Air Force recruiting brochures.
 
In Spokane, Witt was in a committed relationship with a civilian woman 
from July 1997 through August 2003. The two shared a home.

About a year after the couple broke up, the Air Force launched an 
investigation into allegations that Witt was a lesbian.

"Under the facts alleged in the complaint, the statute's popular name 
appears to be a misnomer as applied to Major Witt," 9th Circuit Judge 
William Canby wrote. "She did not tell, but the Air Force asked."

In November 2004, Witt's reservist work, pay, promotion points and 
retirement benefits were halted. After years in limbo and an unsuccessful 
appeal, Witt was honorably discharged in October 2007 – a fact she learned 
only when told that her Air Force dental insurance was no longer valid. 

With help from the American Civil Liberties Union, Witt in 2006 had sought 
a federal injunction to force the Air Force to let her stay. Judge Ronald 
Leighton said he was sympathetic, but he dismissed her case. She appealed 
to the 9th Circuit.

The San Francisco-based court has repeatedly turned down challenges to the 
military's "don't ask, don't tell policy" and its predecessors. But on 
Wednesday, the judges said that a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court case, Lawrence 
v. Texas, has changed the legal landscape.

In that case, the nation's highest court struck down a Texas sodomy law.

"When sexuality finds overt expression in intimate conduct with another 
person, the conduct can be but one element in a personal bond that is more 
enduring," the Supreme Court opinion said. "The liberty protected by the 
Constitution allows homosexual persons the right to make this choice."

Witt's lawyers argue that the '03 ruling suggests a fundamental right to 
private, consensual same-sex intimacy, against which the military's ban 
must face tougher scrutiny. The military – and Congress, which 
passed "don't ask, don't tell" – maintains that sexually active gays and 
lesbians "create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, 
good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of 
military capability."

The 9th Circuit judges said the court doesn't have enough information to 
weigh any harm to Witt against that military rationale. So they remanded 
Witt's case back to Judge Leighton.

In Spokane, Witt continues to work as a physical therapist for Spokane 
Public Schools and to take nursing certification courses. She's applying 
for a job with the Veterans Administration.

"It's extremely humbling and very surreal," she said of the publicity her 
struggle has attracted. "I know that we're far from being done, but as 
long as I can hang in there and put it one step closer, I think that's a 
great thing."

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Pro patria, 
 
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 
"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the 
tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime." 
 
-- Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.


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