Military Ban on Gays Suspended Temporarily : Government: Defense Department is seeking a stay of federal judge’s ruling. Meanwhile, it will comply with the order forbidding discrimination.

In a signal of how seriously it is taking a federal judge’s ruling in California, the Department of Defense has suspended discharge proceedings against gay service members, putting a temporary hold on the military’s gay ban, including the Clinton Administration’s new “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

The government is appealing the judge’s order--which overturns the military’s anti-gay policies--and has asked a federal appeals panel to immediately block the ruling from taking effect pending final resolution of the case.

But in an Oct. 1 memo, Assistant Secretary of Defense Edwin Dorn says that until the order is reversed or stayed, the department will follow it, ceasing discharges or transfers “solely on the basis of homosexual orientation or statements of homosexuality.”

In an interview, Dorn said: “It certainly conflicts with what we want to do and with our understanding of what Congress wants us to do. But we either comply with the judge’s order or he has told us if we don’t, we’re subject to healthy fines. This is the law of the land for the moment. We have to comply.”

The memo flows from a sweeping ruling issued in Los Angeles last week by U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter Jr., who declared the military’s gay ban unconstitutional last winter. Clarifying his January ruling in a Sept. 30 order, Hatter barred the military from discriminating against gay men and lesbians in any way “in the absence of proven sexual conduct--if such conduct is proven to interfere with the military mission of the armed forces of the United States.”

The wording effectively prohibits not only the former gay ban, but also the interim one in effect as well as the “don’t ask, don’t tell” regulations, which had been scheduled to go into effect Oct. 1.

Under “don’t ask, don’t tell,” recruits would no longer be asked about their sexual orientation, but service members who revealed they were gay would be discharged unless they proved they were celibate and intended to remain so.

Defense Secretary Les Aspin had warned lawmakers in January that unless Congress and the Clinton Administration compromised on a workable solution to the gays-in-the-military issue, the courts would likely move ahead with their own solutions.

Some within the Administration have cheered Hatter’s ruling, suggesting that it has done what President Clinton would have done had he not met vigorous opposition from Congress. But a senior Administration official said that view does not prevail throughout the Administration.

“So many people sweated blood to get where we are now,” said the official. “To wish for this judge’s order to stand is to wish for another very long and difficult round with Congress.”

Hatter’s order was issued in a lawsuit filed by Petty Officer Keith Meinhold, a Bay Area sailor who was discharged from the Navy after revealing his homosexuality and then reinstated under Hatter’s order.