A federal appeals
court panel will review the dismissal of an
accomplished Air Force nurse who was fired for being gay,
according to the Associated Press.
James Lobsenz, a
lawyer representing Maj. Margaret Witt, argued Monday
that the dismissal violates his client's right to
freedom from governmental intrusion in her private
life. The court, he said, should strike down the
government's "don't ask, don't
tell" policy or at least reinstate an earlier
lawsuit his client had filed against the government.
Witt, 42, was
honorably discharged after her superiors learned that she
had been in a long-term relationship with a civilian woman.
An Air Force nurse for 18 years, Witt would have
received entitlement benefits after two more years of
service.
Lobsenz claimed
that the Supreme Court's 2003 ruling against sodomy
laws in Texas showed that the government has no right
to intrude into the bedrooms of consenting adults.
Witt's relationship took place in Witt's
hometown of Spokane, Wash., hundreds of miles from McChord
Air Base in western Washington, where she had been
stationed.
"At all
times she kept her sexual life private," Lobsenz
said, according to the AP.
Jonathan F. Cohn,
a deputy assistant attorney general with the Department
of Justice, acknowledged that the significance of the 2003
ruling is not completely clear, but he said
"the court very clearly stops short of
recognizing a fundamental right" to privacy for gays,
according to the AP.
Witt, who joined
the Air Force in 1987, cared for injured patients on
military flights. A citation from President Bush in 2003
read, "Her airmanship and courage directly
contributed to the successful accomplishment of
important missions under extremely hazardous
circumstances." (The Advocate)
