A federal judge has ordered the American military to immediately stop enforcing its ban on openly gay service people. US Justice Department lawyers have just 60 days to appeal the judge's injunction which appears to be speeding up the hoped for abolition of the despised 17-year old "don't ask, don't tell" compromise policy adopted by the Pentagon during the Clinton administration. "For a federal judge to tell the Government to stop enforcing this policy worldwide, this afternoon, with no time to think about or plan for it is almost unprecedented," says Richard Socarides, a former Clinton White House advisor on gay rights. Meanwhile, another federal judge has ruled that a decorated flight nurse discharged from the Air Force for being gay should be given her job back.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 15th October 2010 - 1:02pm