Judge Says Navy Erred in Ousting Gay Petty Officer

In the first ruling that the military has violated its “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, a federal judge said Thursday that the Navy should not have dismissed a sailor for homosexuality based on an anonymous online message.

The Navy plans to appeal the ruling on Senior Chief Petty Officer Timothy R. McVeigh, 36, who is no relation to the convicted Oklahoma City bomber.

Previous cases have challenged the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy’s constitutionality, but McVeigh focused on whether the policy was being correctly enforced, and U.S. District Judge Stanley Sporkin agreed that it was not.

Sporkin’s decision made permanent a preliminary injunction he had issued Monday, effectively barring the Navy from ousting the 17-year veteran. In his written opinion issued Monday, Sporkin found that “the Navy has gone too far” in investigating McVeigh.

Sporkin also ruled that the Navy violated the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act by obtaining confidential information from America Online Inc. without a warrant or court order. The Navy used the information to link McVeigh to an anonymous “profile page” posted on AOL in which a “Tim” from Honolulu expressed a sexual interest in young men.