Letter to the Minneapolis-St.Paul City Pages (Aug. 25, 1999) on military gay ban and recoupments

Dear Editors: What happened to Ron Falcon (CityPages, Aug 11, 1999, p. 18) was indeed outrageous. Even given the official regulations, the military has no right to recoupment if Falcon was "outed" by the actions of others. (The policy was supposed to include "Don't Pursue," and Former Sec. of Defense Perry issued guidelines limiting recoupment in 1995). You may recall a similar case of Clayce Rodamer, as covered on ABC "Nightline." And, or course, we remember the witch-hunt that the Navy conducted against P.O. Timothy McVeigh (#2)'s AOL account.

There is, according to case law and Supreme Court custom, very little chance of completely overturning DADT in court, since the government has "won" three times in appellate court.

The harm done by the government's policy to civilian gays, of course, is its insinuation that gays are somehow "morally" unfit to serve their country. Note the example that the military sets for the Boy Scouts!! Think also about how government discriminates against gays with sodomy laws, and the Defense of Marriage Act.

Note also that both Hamline University and William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul have been affected by DADT. They were forced to accept military recruiters on campus or (under the Solomon Amendment) lose both DOD and DOE funding, which is used to give financial aid to law students! Both institutions were forced by government to break their own non-discrimination standards by the military ban, and this affects civilians!! Bill Boushka, Minneapolis

Ó Copyright 1999 by Bill Boushka and Twin Cities City Pages, subject to fair use/