Military’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy faces court challenge

Sailor discharged after admitting she was a lesbian

Boston ? During her first five years in the Navy, Jen Kopfstein avoided conversations about her personal life, taking the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy seriously.

“I felt like I was being forced to lie and having to be dishonest,” Kopfstein said. “I could never share anything about my family or my home life or even say what I did on the weekend. It is hurtful to do that.”

After she finally wrote a letter to her commanding officer telling him she was a lesbian, she was discharged.

Now she and 11 other former servicemembers are challenging the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, arguing in a federal lawsuit that it violates their constitutional rights. The Bush administration is asking a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit in a motion to be heard Friday.

“It’s a terrible policy,” said Kopfstein, 30, of San Diego. “It’s very detrimental to morale. It turns people into second-class citizens.

Established in 1993 under the Clinton administration, “don’t ask, don’t tell” prohibits the military from asking about the sexual orientation of service members but requires discharge of those who acknowledge being gay or engaging in homosexual activity.

More than 9,400 troops have been discharged since the policy was implemented, a number critics call astonishing with the country at war and recruitment lagging.

In court documents, the Justice Department argues that Congress, in approving “don’t ask, don’t tell,” recognized that the military is characterized by its own rules and traditions that would not be accepted in civilian society.

The policy helps in “maintaining unit cohesion, reducing sexual tensions and promoting personal privacy,” the government argues.

But the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which filed the lawsuit, contends the policy is clearly discriminatory and violates rights to privacy, free speech and equal protection of the law.

“The government has never produced a shred of evidence that this is necessary for military readiness,” said C. Dixon Osburn, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.