Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 15:38:19 -0500 (CDT) From: Kevyn Jacobs To: "Kansas Queer News [KQN]" Subject: NT: COURT UPHOLDS LESBIAN'S ARMY DISCHARGE FROM THE NEWS-TELEGRAPH APRIL 14-27, 1995 ======================= COURT UPHOLDS LESBIAN'S ARMY DISCHARGE by Lisa Marie Neff DENVER-The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals April 4 upheld, in a 3-0 ruling, the discharge of Army Major Col. Joyce L. Walmer, who is stationed at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. The court ruling means Walmer could be discharged immediately. In its eleven-page ruling, the federal appeals court refused Walmer's request for an injunction to block her honorable discharge. The court also dissolved a stay that had prevented the Army from ousting the fifteen-year Army veteran while her appeal was pending. Walmer's attorney, Jeffrey L. Baxter of Leavenworth, said there is now nothing in place to stop the Army from moving forward with discharging Walmer. But the attorney said he planned to ask the court to reconsider its decision, which apparently rarely happens. In 1992, Army officials told Walmer she was going to be discharged for acknowledging she engaged in homosexual acts. Court papers indicated that the Army learned that Walmer had engaged in homosexual acts from a former lover. Walmer, in a hearing before the Army Board of Inquiry, said she did not qualify for an exception to the Army's ban on homosexual. In other words, Walmer said she is a Lesbian and did not deny the former lover's claim. Baxter said he expected the appeals court ruling since the same court had set a precedent for Walmer's case in a 1984 decision. Only three of the nine judges on the court made the ruling on the appeal. Baxter said all nine were needed to overturn the precedent The appeal was made after US District Judge Earl E. O'Connor in Kansas City refused to grant an injunction to block Walmer's discharge. In his 1993 decision, O'Connor upheld the military's policy against Lesbians and Gays. ========================================================== Permission granted by the News-Telegraph for distribution to the KQN email list (KQN@casti.com), and archiving in the Queer Resources Directory (QRD) on the Internet (http://www.qrd.org/QRD). For News-Telegraph subscription information (published twice a month), please call 1.816.561.6266, or email: newstele@aol.com ==========================================================