**Court: Military Cannot Discharge People Because They're Gay**

[cynatnite]

SEATTLE - The military cannot automatically discharge people because they're gay, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday in the case of a decorated flight nurse who sued the Air Force over her dismissal.

The three judges from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did not strike down the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. But they reinstated Maj. Margaret Witt's lawsuit, saying the Air Force must prove that her dismissal furthered the military's goals of troop readiness and unit cohesion.

The "don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue, don't harass" policy prohibits the military from asking about the sexual orientation of service members but requires discharge of those who acknowledge being gay or engaging in homosexual activity.

Wednesday's ruling led opponents of the policy to declare its days numbered. It is also the first appeals court ruling in the country that evaluated the policy through the lens of a 2003 Supreme Court decision that struck down a Texas ban on sodomy as an unconstitutional intrusion on privacy.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080522/ap_on_re_us/military_gays

[Solly Mack]

1. Good!

[frogcycle]

2. when you step back a moment

and just consider all the proscriptions against private behaviors and acts supported by this society it just boggles the mind. And those most rabid to enforce these orwellian laws and policies are the very ones who scream bloody murder that we need less government, less regulation of anything that has to do with making money.

[Jed Dilligan]

3. Welcome to the land of the Puritans.

When your original founders were capital-worshiping religious psychotics, you are in permanent trouble.

[DCKit]

7. That's also the same crowd that keeps getting outed as...

serial adulterers, pedophiles, whoremongers, wide stancers and linked to all manner of crimes related to improper use of their political, social and corporate position(s). The Pharisees had NOTHING on this group of hypocrites.

Jeebus isn't just weeping, he's screaming.

[barbtries]

11. isn't it ironic n/t

[DS1]

4. Makes sense

You can work in any other Government job and be gay at the same time.

[cynatnite]

6. My husband and I just had a discussion...

We're both vets.

He said: I don't care as long as it's not in the workplace.
I said: Why's that?
He said: Well, I...uh...
I said: As long as there isn't any flirting or kissing while in uniform...right?
He said: Right.

Then he remembered all the times we flirted and kissed in uniform.

Then he said: Okay, you're right.

:rofl: He's a bit slow, but I love the big guy.

[aquart]

5. And now can we hire back those gay Arabic translators?

Still so pissed about that.

[frebrd]

8. K&R Need another rec

[lightningandsnow]

9. Yay!

Really hope they fully overturn "don't ask, don't tell" soon.

[Lugnut]

10. Finally some common sense from the court. n/t