Jon Davidson, Legal Director at Lambda Legal, issued the following statement regarding today's decision by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals vacating an earlier U.S. District Court ruling declaring "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) unconstitutional.
In response to the news that the President has transmitted to Congress certification from the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and himself that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" may be repealed without adverse consequences to the military, Lambda Legal issued the following statement from Jon Davidson Legal Director for Lambda Legal
Today, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the stay on the injunction issued by the district court in the Log Cabin Republicans' challenge to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT). The government is once again enjoined from enforcing DADT anywhere in the world. The government was enjoined once before for eight days, before a different set of Ninth Circuit judges issued the stay of the injunction in this case.
The Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 was cause for celebration. But DADT is not dead yet. It left a trail of damage that repeal, even when fully enacted, won't necessarily address. In addition to the fact that the government has not completed all the steps necessary to make DADT historymeaning the policy is still in effect14,000 service members were robbed of their livelihoods and those still serving face uncertainty about their status. Many who were issued "other than honorable" discharges left service with a taint on their reputations. Even those with "honorable" discharges often lost the ability to maintain privacy about their sexual orientation, because discharge paperwork continues to indicate to future employers that they are "unable to re-enlist" because of DADT.
(Los Angeles, April 4, 2011) — Lambda Legal, Knights Out, OutServe, the Human Rights Campaign, and the Anti-Defamation League today filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S.
In response to today's procedural ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal permitting "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" to remain temporarily in effect during an appeal, Lambda Legal issued the following statement from Staff Attorney Peter Renn:
