Navy Refuses to Reinstate Gay Sailor Despite Court Edict

Ignoring a federal court order issued last week, naval commanders refused Monday to reinstate a Bay Area sailor discharged after he announced recently on national television that he is gay.

In a preliminary ruling Friday, a federal judge in Los Angeles ordered the Navy to return Petty Officer Keith Meinhold to his job at Moffett Field Naval Air Station near Sunnyvale. But when Meinhold showed up at the base Monday afternoon, a legal officer handed him a letter stating that local commanders had not been authorized to reinstate him.

“They were quite tight-lipped,” said Meinhold, a 12-year veteran who was honorably discharged Aug. 12, three months after he disclosed that he is homosexual during an interview aired by ABC’s “World News Tonight.”

“They basically apologized they had to do this and they wished me good luck, and that was about it,” Meinhold said.

His Los Angeles attorneys said they will go to court this morning to seek a contempt ruling to force the government to follow U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter’s order, issued as a preliminary injunction in Meinhold’s lawsuit against the Navy.

“They (naval commanders) don’t have the discretion to decide which orders they obey and which they don’t,” said attorney Christopher L. Rudd.

Lt. Commander Stephen Pietropaoli, a Navy spokesman in Washington, said the Justice Department and Navy were mulling over the government’s response to the court ruling. “Until that evaluation process is completed, (Meinhold’s) status is the same,” Pietropaoli said. Justice Department attorneys handling the case declined to comment.

Hatter based his ruling on a technicality rather than arguments advanced by Meinhold’s lawyers that the government’s ban on homosexual service members violated their client’s constitutional rights.

Gay rights attorneys nonetheless interpreted the court injunction as a favorable sign, especially in light of anticipation that President-elect Bill Clinton will lift the military ban soon after he takes office next year. Clinton campaigned for the gay vote with promises to overturn the Defense Department’s anti-gay policy, which he can do through an executive order.