A federal judge in California on Tuesday ordered the U.S. military to stop enforcing the 17-year-old policy banning openly gay service members, the policy known as "don't ask, don't tell."
Judge Virginia Phillips issued a permanent injunction against "don't ask, don't tell" from her court in Riverside, Calif., declaring that the policy "infringes the fundamental rights of United States service members and prospective service members."
Her injunction applies to U.S. military personnel serving throughout the world. She also ordered the federal government and military "immediately to suspend and discontinue any investigation, or discharge, separation, or other proceeding that may have been commenced under the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Act."
The judge had ruled the policy unconstitutional in a Sept. 9 decision, but delayed issuing the injunction for a month in order to give the Obama administration's Justice Department an opportunity to respond.
Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said Tuesday the decision was under review. The department has 60 days to file an appeal.
Log Cabin Republicans, the party's most prominent gay rights organization, filed the lawsuit in 2004 and hailed Tuesday's ruling as a "complete and total victory." But the group warned that the case isn't yet closed, noting that the administration may still appeal the decision.
"No longer will our military be compelled to discharge service members with valuable skills and experience because of an archaic policy mandating irrational discrimination," said Christian Berle, deputy executive director of Log Cabin Republicans.
Supporters of "don't ask, don't tell" denounced the ruling as a blatant example of judicial activism undercutting the democratic process. The Senate last month debated legislation to repeal "don't ask, don't tell" — already approved by the House of Representatives — as an amendment to a defense-authorization bill, but proponents could not overcome a filibuster.
"Once again, an activist federal judge is using the military to advance a liberal social agenda, disregarding the views of all four military service chiefs and the constitutional role of Congress," said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins. "This move will only further the desire of voters to change Congress."
In most cases, federal lawyers would be expected to challenge an adverse ruling, but this case comes with an unusual set of circumstances. President Obama has said he personally favors repeal of "don't ask, don't tell," and allowing the deadline to pass without filing an appeal would enable him to deliver a top priority for his party's gay supporters without the risks of a nasty congressional battle.
Judge Virginia Phillips issued a permanent injunction against "don't ask, don't tell" from her court in Riverside, Calif., declaring that the policy "infringes the fundamental rights of United States service members and prospective service members."
Her injunction applies to U.S. military personnel serving throughout the world. She also ordered the federal government and military "immediately to suspend and discontinue any investigation, or discharge, separation, or other proceeding that may have been commenced under the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Act."
The judge had ruled the policy unconstitutional in a Sept. 9 decision, but delayed issuing the injunction for a month in order to give the Obama administration's Justice Department an opportunity to respond.
Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said Tuesday the decision was under review. The department has 60 days to file an appeal.
Log Cabin Republicans, the party's most prominent gay rights organization, filed the lawsuit in 2004 and hailed Tuesday's ruling as a "complete and total victory." But the group warned that the case isn't yet closed, noting that the administration may still appeal the decision.
"No longer will our military be compelled to discharge service members with valuable skills and experience because of an archaic policy mandating irrational discrimination," said Christian Berle, deputy executive director of Log Cabin Republicans.
Supporters of "don't ask, don't tell" denounced the ruling as a blatant example of judicial activism undercutting the democratic process. The Senate last month debated legislation to repeal "don't ask, don't tell" — already approved by the House of Representatives — as an amendment to a defense-authorization bill, but proponents could not overcome a filibuster.
"Once again, an activist federal judge is using the military to advance a liberal social agenda, disregarding the views of all four military service chiefs and the constitutional role of Congress," said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins. "This move will only further the desire of voters to change Congress."
In most cases, federal lawyers would be expected to challenge an adverse ruling, but this case comes with an unusual set of circumstances. President Obama has said he personally favors repeal of "don't ask, don't tell," and allowing the deadline to pass without filing an appeal would enable him to deliver a top priority for his party's gay supporters without the risks of a nasty congressional battle.
18 comments:
another judge gonig against the will of the people? im beginning to think its time to start a revolution.
another judge gonig against the will of the people? im beginning to think its time to start a revolution.
sorry, double post. the blogger is freezing recently
70% of the people favor doing away with this policy.
@1201pm
the caviot to that lil survey (which is conveniently buried), is that 68% of those that disagree with the policy itself believe that gays should not be allowed in the military at all so there should be no need for that policy - rutgers poll.
Why do we care who a soldier sleeps with if he/she can kill the Taliban? If they're in an US Armed Force and can kill the bad guys, I don't care whom they date.
So, not having gay people in the Army is more important than having every solider available to kill Muslim extremists? I thought that was the priority?
I agree with 12:23 except our goal (and Israel's goal) is to kill all Muslims. Let Allah sort 'em out.
A genuine worry is that not all gay applicants for the military will be driven by a vocational calling. The high concentration of individuals of one gender within a military unit make it a fruitful source of sexual partners, and will provoke a disproportionate gravitation of gays, lesbians and bisexuals towards application. This in turn will provoke even more homophobia among heterosexuals as these motives become clear.
12:45, how stupid can you be? Yeah, gay dudes join the military and risk their lives to be around straight dudes because they can't do that at say, a construction job. And why would lesbians sign up for "sexual partners" when the majority of servicemembers are men?
The more this debate goes on, the more conservatives show their outright stupidity and hypocrisy.
And to dummy at 11:51, and ;52, and oh yeah ;52 again, the courts acted under their established CONSTITUTIONAL authority. That justifies revolution?
Are we talking about sissies or people who commit sodomy?
Which is it?
Personally, I would not want to take a shower or sleep in the same room as some chick froth's from the mouth. Put me in a room of male soldiers you have to.
My friend who is gay served 20 years in the military flying C5 airplanes. He was not looking for sexual partners. He was a good pilot and served honorably until his retirement.
Ugh that old stupid argument "I don't want gays around (or dont wanna shower with gays) cuz they will want to have sex with me". I promise you that you are not that charming and attractive that the gays just will not be able to resist you. People talk about gays like they are dogs given people food.
1:18 Word up!
12:56 You didn't respond to the point I guess it went over your head...stupid!
Accordingly, the military stresses such martial virtues as courage, both physical and moral, a sense of honor and duty, discipline, a professional code of conduct, and loyalty. It places a premium on such factors as unit cohesion and morale. The glue of the military ethos is what the Greeks called philia—friendship, comradeship or brotherly love. Philia, the bond among disparate individuals who have nothing in common but facing death and misery together, is the source of the unit cohesion that most research has shown to be critical to battlefield success.
Philia depends on fairness and the absence of favoritism. Favoritism and double standards are deadly to philia and its associated phenomena—cohesion, morale and discipline—are absolutely critical to the success of a military organization.
The presence of open homosexuals in the close confines of ships or military units opens the possibility that eros—which unlike philia is sexual, and therefore individual and exclusive—will be unleashed into the environment. Eros manifests itself as sexual competition, protectiveness and favoritism, all of which undermine the nonsexual bonding essential to unit cohesion, good order, discipline and morale.
@403pm
i did. even though there was no cussing or anything in there, they decided not to print it.
4:03, you have no point because you begin with a false premise
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