Pro-Gay Republican Group to File Suit
Tue Oct 12, 5:11 PM ET
By GENARO C. ARMAS, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - A Republican homosexual rights group filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to overturn the Pentagon (news - web sites)'s "don't ask, don't tell" policy for gays in the military.
The policy, put into place in 1993 during the Clinton administration, allows gays and lesbians to serve so long as they do not disclose their sexual orientation nor engage in homosexual acts.
The Log Cabin Republicans (news - web sites) sued in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles asking for an injunction that would prevent the Pentagon from enforcing the policy. The suit names the United States and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld as defendants.
Log Cabin members serving in the military asked the group's leaders over the last four months to take legal action, said Marty Meekins, one of the group's attorneys. They did not come forward because of a specific incident but out of "fear of the military finding out their sexual orientation if they are gay and lesbian," said Meekins, who is based in Los Angeles.
The suit says the policy violates a soldier's constitutional right to due process, freedom of speech and equal protection.
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