A Federal judge in Riverside, CA has ruled that the military's Don't Ask/Don't tell law violates the 1st Amendment and due process rights of gays and lesbians. Judge Virginia A. Phillips ruled that the law violates free speech rights because heterosexual service members are free to state their sexual orientation while gay soldiers who do so face discharge. DA/DT provides for discharge for "homosexual acts" which are defined so as to include speech that "indicates a propensity to engage in homosexual acts," like the words "I am gay." When DA/DT was first being implemented, a military lawyer I knew at the time said that wording was stupid and created a needless 1st Amendment issue. Apparently, he was right.
Judge Phillips gave a scathing critique of the gay ban noting that the military's own actions of delaying discharge of gay soldiers who are deployed demonstrates that openly gay soldiers pose no harm to military readiness. You can read more about it here.
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