Lesbian Colonel Returns to Work on Court Orders
Two years after Col. Margarethe Cammermeyer was kicked out of the National Guard for being a lesbian, the highly decorated Vietnam War veteran was back at her old job on Saturday.
A federal court ordered her reinstatement last month, ruling that her discharge based on her sexual orientation was unconstitutional. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Thursday refused to delay that order.
A smiling Cammermeyer, dressed in a camouflage uniform, arrived in an white Mercedes-Benz and entered the main gate at Washington National Guard headquarters, south of Tacoma.
She returned to her job as chief of nursing services for the 164th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. As a regular reservist, her work obligation is two days per month and a 15-day annual training mission. The job pays about $12,000 a year.
Guard commander Maj. Gen. Greg Barlow asked Cammermeyer to report to work Saturday after the appeals court rejected the Justice Department’s latest effort to block her reinstatement.
“I never knew the military to move so fast,” the 52-year-old Cammermeyer said Friday night. “I’m more disappointed that it’s taken two years to get here.”
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