The Supreme Court
on Tuesday will hear arguments in a case that
challenges a federal law preventing colleges and
universities that receive federal grants
from barring military recruiters from their
campuses because the military discriminates against gays and
lesbians. Colleges that continue to bar the recruiters
can have millions in federal grants revoked
under the Solomon Amendment, a law passed in 1995 and
expanded in 1996 that prohibits any school that
bars military recruiters from receiving grants
from the departments of Defense, Education, Labor, and
Health and Human Services.
Gay U.S.
representative Barney Frank in 1999 spearheaded legislation
that exempted federal student loan funds from the
Solomon Amendment.
The case going
before the high court on Tuesday, called Forum for
Academic and Institutional Rights v. Rumsfeld, has
been brought by a coalition of law schools that say
the law is unconstitutional because it wrongly allows
the military to violate their colleges' policies
banning discrimination against gays. Three law
schools--New York Law School, Vermont Law
School, and the William Mitchell College of
Law--reportedly already have lost some federal
funds because they continue to require that military
recruiters adhere to their nondiscrimination policies.
The third U.S.
circuit court of appeals in November 2004 ruled in favor
of the colleges, but the case was appealed to the Supreme
Court.
"Our armed forces
should recruit among the best and brightest for
service to our country. The best and brightest, however,
include lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
students, too," said Sharra E. Greer, director
of law and policy for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network,
which has filed an amicus brief supporting the colleges
challenging the law. "Law schools are simply
asking the military to adhere to the same rule as
every potential employer recruiting on campus: no
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation."
A decision by the
high court in the case isn't expected for several
months.
For more
information on the Solomon Amendment and efforts to overturn
it, go online to www.solomonresponse.org.
(Advocate.com)
