Catholic Air Force Captain Wins Religious Discrimination Case Against Dept. of Defence

WASHINGTON, June 20, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Capt. Ryan Berry, an Air Force missileer who was punished by superior officers merely for requesting a religious accommodation, finally won the long battle to clear his record Wednesday. In a settlement negotiated by The Becket Fund and ratified by U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle, the U.S. Air Force and the Department of Defence agreed to remove all derogatory material that had been placed in Berry’s military records and on USAF and DOD websites.  When told of the potential for being assigned to missile alerts with a female officer (24 to 48 hours in a small underground bunker with very little privacy), Berry asked that he not be required (absent military necessity) to serve alerts with female officers as an accommodation of his Catholic belief that he should avoid situations in which he might “develop inappropriate intimacy-even platonic-with a woman who is not his wife.” Following feminist pressure the Air Force revoked a religious waiver allowing Berry to serve on his shift only with men.  Soon after Berry’s renewed request for accommodation, a number of false and derogatory statements were placed in his official record. Efforts to have the negative material removed were rejected by the Air Force, leaving him no alternative but to file suit last year. The settlement gives Capt. Berry everything he had asked for during the long battle to clear his record.  In addition to his defence by the Becket Fund, Berry’s bishop, Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien, the Family Research Council, 50 house Republicans, The Eagle Forum, and the Rutherford Institute, all worked to support his religious rights.  See related LifeSite coverage AIR FORCE PUNISHES OFFICER FOR CHRISTIAN MORALS https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/1999/jul/99071503.html