Another important victory in the battle for LGBTQ rights and more importantly, in the fight to overturn the US military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy happened Thursday when U.S. District Court Judge Virginia A. Phillips declared the ban on openly gay service members violates the 1st Amendment rights of LGBT service men and women. The Los Angeles Times and Towleroad have the story. The judge is issuing an injunction barring the US government from enforcing the policy but the Department of Justice will then have an opportunity to appeal her ruling. The fight is far from over and her decision could well be overturned, but every case and positive ruling such as this sets a layer of precedents which will, and can affect future court rulings and law. It’s an important step in ending DADT.
And, there must be some kudos to the Log Cabin Republicans, the national organization of LGBTQ conservatives. Frequently derided by the liberal majority of the queer community for supporting a political party that continues to deny equal rights for LGBTQ citizens, the conservative group originated this court case, Log Cabin Republicans vs. U.S.A in 2004 on behalf of Servicemembers United’s Executive Director, J. Alexander Nicholson, a multi-lingual Army interrogator who had been discharged under DADT. Today’s decision and the efforts of the LCR probably mean we need a moratorium on the “a Log Cabin queer is like a Jewish Nazi” brand of snark…our conservative brethren have done good.
We’ll have more news on this case as it develops…
-Michael Strangeways
