Pentagon Offers Some Dismissed Gays a Chance to Seek Reviews

The Pentagon said Friday that it will permit homosexuals dismissed from active duty since the Defense Department announced its revised gays-in-the-military policy last February to seek reconsideration of their cases.

The decision also will allow those affected to return to active duty while their cases are being heard, rather than having to continue serving in the standby reserve, where they have been forced to give up pay and seniority.

Officials said that the new guidelines will apply only to those who simply disclosed that they are homosexuals. They will not affect those dismissed for having committed homosexual acts, which are prohibited by both the old and new policies.

The action is designed to ease the burden for gay men and lesbians whose cases have been “caught in the pipeline” while the new, permanent rules concerning gays in the military are being drafted. Preliminary regulations were issued on Dec. 22. Final rules will come on Feb. 5.

At the same time, in a companion move, the Pentagon also urged local military commanders to postpone any new cases involving possible discharge of homosexuals until the final rules take effect.

Separately, a federal appeals court here agreed to reconsider the issue of whether the Pentagon’s previous ban on gays in the military is constitutional, reopening a plea by a former Naval Academy midshipman who was expelled because he is a homosexual.

The action at least temporarily negates an earlier ruling by three of the court’s judges that the government must grant the midshipman, Joseph C. Steffan, an officer’s commission. But legal experts said that the outcome is unlikely to affect the government’s new policy on gays.

Friday’s decision affecting pending cases was timed to head off a possible separate court ruling on a request by former Navy Lt. Tracy Thorne for reconsideration of his discharge case. Thorne was dismissed from active duty in May after declaring that he is a homosexual.

Pentagon officials said they estimated that only five other former active-duty service personnel might be affected by Friday’s decision. Two other acknowledged homosexuals who were transferred to the standby reserve have won court orders returning them to active duty.

The permanent regulations essentially continue the Pentagon’s longstanding ban on homosexual activity but prohibit “witch hunts” against suspected gays and mandate more humane handling of such cases.