Date: Thu, 7 Mar 1996 11:42:21 -0500
From: SLDN1@aol.com
Subject: Tracy Thorne Press Release



PRESS RELEASE

CONTACT:  =09C. Dixon Osburn
=09=09Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
(202) 328-3244

JUDGE RULES THAT HE MAY DECLARE=20
"DON=92T ASK, DON=92T TELL, DON=92T PURSUE" UNCONSTITUTIONAL

=09Washington, D.C., March 5, 1996 =96 One week after Servicemembers Legal
Defense Network (SLDN) issued a report concluding that the "Don=92t Ask, Do=
n=92t
Tell, Don=92t Pursue" policy is "as bad as, if not worse than" prior polici=
es
on gays in the military, a federal district court judge ruled late yesterda=
y
in a 31 page opinion that he may find that the current policy violates the
First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

=09In the case of Thorne v. Perry, J. Ellis held a final opinion in abeyanc=
e
and ordered that the government and Thorne=92s attorneys submit additional
briefs answering the question whether there are any circumstances under whi=
ch
a gay servicemember can rebut the statement "I am gay."

=09J. Ellis ruled that if the presumption is irrebuttable, then the current
policy "would constitute a content-based restriction on speech that fails
heightened scrutiny and therefore violates the First Amendment."  J. Ellis=
=92
concerns echo the concerns raised by J. Nickerson in the Able decision in N=
ew
York in which Nickerson called the rebuttable presumption "a hollow offer"
and ruled that the current regulations violate the First Amendment=92s
guarantee of freedom of speech.

=09J. Ellis=92 opinion comes at a time when many expect a decision in the c=
ase of
Thomasson v. Perry to be handed down very soon, an opinion that will
potentially be binding in Thorne=92s case.  J. Ellis sits in the Eastern
District of Virginia in Alexandria, the same district court that ruled
against LT Paul Thomasson and upheld the constitutionality of the "Don=92t =
Ask,
Don=92t Tell, Don=92t Pursue" policy.  The full court for the Fourth Circui=
t
Court of Appeals heard arguments in Thomasson v. Perry last December and an
opinion in that case is expected shortly.

=09C. Dixon Osburn, Co-Executive Director of SLDN, stated, "J. Ellis=92 rul=
ing
provides a window into his thinking, and that window shows that he is clear=
ly
disturbed by the current policy.  I am hopeful that he will rule that the
policy is unconstitutional very soon.  J. Ellis noted that the military
cannot afford to lose people, like Thorne, whose "=92leadership vision embr=
aces
the qualities most sought after throughout the fleet.=92"

=09LT Thorne was discharged on March 9, 1995 for stating that he is gay on =
the
ABC News Program "Nightline" in May 1992.   =20