AN ANALYSIS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE'S
                 APPEAL OF THE MEINHOLD DECISION


     On March 3, 1993, the Department of Justice (DOJ) appealed
the Meinhold decision and asked for an emergency stay of the
injunction in that case.  The Campaign for Military Service
believes it is deeply unfortunate that this appeal had to occur
and that a Clinton Department of Justice had to ask for a stay of
a good district court ruling that the military ban on lesbians,
gay men and bisexuals is unconstitutional.  The Campaign also
believes, however, that the Administration's request was inevita-
ble in light of the agreement that President Clinton made with
Senator Nunn on January 29, 1993.  This is because the Clinton-
Nunn compromise mandates the military to discharge people for gay
conduct and to place people on standby reserve (with no pay) for
gay status -- while the Meinhold injunction explicitly precludes
the military from taking such discriminatory actions.  The
Clinton-Nunn compromise is the factor that defeated a Republican-
sponsored attempt on February 4 to place the military gay ban
into law permanently.  Thus, the compromise was distasteful, but
necessary.  The Clinton-Nunn compromise is also the factor that
is currently giving us precious time to implement a lobbying,
grassroots, media and legal strategy that may result in our
ultimately winning this issue in Congress.  Anything that jeopar-
dizes this compromise therefore jeopardizes our ability to win
this issue in the long term.  For this reason, the Campaign has
not denounced the Clinton Administration for its Meinhold appeal.