Gay Sues Navy For Kick Out Try

Copyright 1993. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
   WASHINGTON (AP) -- A gay Navy submariner filed suit Wednesday to challeng
the Clinton administration's attempts to kick him out of the service for
admitting he is homosexual.
   The lawsuit, which challenges the Clinton administration's new policy on
gays in the miltary, charged that the Navy's actions violated the officer's
constitutional right to equal protection under the law.
   The lawsuit, filed here in federal court, seeks a court order to stop
disciplinary proceedings that would put Lt. j.g. Richard Dirk Selland on
inactive reserve beginning Sept. 30.
   Selland, who is stationed at Norfolk, Va., told his commanding officer
about his sexual orientation on Jan. 21, the day after President Clinton took
office and after the president announced plans to lift the ban on gays in the
military.
   After the four-hour meeting, Selland was given a gym bag and told to gather
his belongings and leave his submarine.
   The Navy later told Selland he would be put on inactive reserve, or
effectively discharged, beginning Sept. 30, said Hank Hockeimer, Selland's
attorney.
   The suit also claims the armed services' new policy on gay servicemen and
women -- set to go into effect Oct. 1 -- "chills and penalizes Selland's free
speech rights, in violation of the First Amendment to the United States
constitution."
   The Navy's decision also was "arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of
discretion, and contrary to law," the suit said.
   A separate motion asks the court to grant a preliminary injunction that
would keep the Navy from discharging Selland until the case is decided.
   Clinton later retreated from his pledge to lift the ban, and reluctantly
agreed to support the new policy, nicknamed "don't ask, don't tell, don't
pursue."
   The White House said the new policy, nevertheless, would end witch hunts
for homosexuals in uniform. Under the plan, homosexuals will be allowed to
serve in the armed forces if they keep quiet about their sexual orientation.
   Homosexual conduct itself would be prohibited.
   Hockeimer said Selland decided to come forward because "he was pretty
confident that President Clinton would lift the ban as indicated."
   Selland also had been enduring some joking from shipmates who suspected he
was gay, the suit said.
   "In requesting this meeting, it was Selland's hope -- and expectation --
that the discussion ... would remain confidential" and that his commanding
officer would "exercise leadership by curbing the jokes directed toward
Selland."