By Michael Baggot
SEATTLE, WA, May 23, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a decision praised by proponents of "gay rights," a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday day that the military cannot automatically dismiss actively homosexual individuals from their position without demonstrating that the person’s presence damages troop morale.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated Maj. Margaret Witt’s lawsuit against the Air Force for dismissing her due to her previous homosexual relationship. In 2006, the former McChord Air Force Base flight nurse filed a suit against the Air Force after it suspended her without pay in 2004 upon learning of her relationship with a female civilian.
Judge Ronald B. Leighton of the Federal District Court in Tacoma dismissed Witt’s case in 2006. In October 2007, Witt was honorably discharged two years before she became eligible for retirement benefits.
The appeals court ruled that the Air Force must show that each dismissal of an actively homosexual individual contributes to the goals of troop readiness and unit cohesion.
"When the government attempts to intrude upon the personal and private lives of homosexuals, the government must advance an important governmental interest, the intrusion must significantly further that interest, and the intrusion must be necessary to further that interest," wrote Judge Ronald M. Gould.
In his partial dissent, William C. Canby Jr. argued for a reexamination of the current "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" (DADT) policy that allows the military to dismiss individuals when their homosexual actions are made known.
"I have no difficulty concluding that the right to engage in homosexual relationships and related private sexual conduct is a personal right of a high constitutional order, and that the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ statute so penalizes that relationship and conduct that it must be subjected to strict scrutiny," wrote Canby.
Canby based his questioning of DADT on the Supreme Court’s June 2003 Lawrence v. Texas ruling that decriminalized sodomy and declared that act protected by substantive due process under the Fourteenth Amendment.
James Lobsenz, one of Witt’s attorney’s, argued that yesterday’s decision could provide the grounds to eliminate DADT.
"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. Eventually, they’re going to say, ‘This is dumb. ... It’s time to scrap the policy.’"
In 1993, Congress reaffirmed the long-standing ban on actively homosexual individuals in military service after holding twelve congressional hearings and field trips with both civilian and military personnel of all ranks, and stated "there is no constitutional right to serve in the armed forces."
The law defends men and women in the service from being forced to expose themselves to persons who could possibly be sexually attracted to them, since they find themselves living in conditions often "spartan, primitive, and characterized by forced intimacy with little or no privacy."
Veteran Matt Barber of Concerned Women for America (CWA) has testified to the harmful effects of actively homosexual individuals in the military.
"It’s been the Department of Defense’s long standing position that to allow open homosexual behavior and other immoral conduct harms unit cohesion and troop morale. I know this to be true from personal experience. I served twelve years in the military. During basic training, one of my fellow recruits was sent home for soliciting sex from other male recruits," Barber told CWA in a 2007 report.
"The incident was an enormous distraction from our task at hand, which was to learn how to be good soldiers. Instead, recruits were violated, complaints were filed and our command was forced to conduct a thorough investigation. It was an incredible waste of time and resources and definitely harmed troop morale and unit cohesion."
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Homosexuals Howl at Military Policy Banning Them from Service
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/aug/06081604.html
Homosexuality a Psychological Disorder: Pentagon Document
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06062008.html
Supreme Court Justice Scalia Warns Texas Sodomy Ruling Will Lead to Homosexual Marriage
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/jun/03062702.html
More Than a Dozen Groups File In Support of Texas Anti-Sodomy Law
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/feb/03022011.html
Read the US’s policy regarding homosexuality in the military:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/10/654.html
Read the appeals court’s decision:
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/witt.pdf?mod=WSJBlog