Fehrenbach's DADT Discharge on Hold Pending Appeal

Lt. Col. Victor Feherenbach  has won a stay in his discharge under Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT). The Advocate reported yesterday that Fehernbachs' legal team filed a motion last week seeking a stay in the immanent discharge of the decorated Air Force officer, arguing that the government cannot establish that his continued service on active duty hinders “morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion.”

The Advocate reports, “We are pleased that the Air Force has agreed to preserve the status quo until we can have a full hearing,” said M. Andrew Woodmansee, an attorney at Morrison and Foerster LLP, the law firm representing Fehrenbach in conjunction with the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. “Of course, we continue to hope that the Air Force will do the right thing and let this war hero continue to serve this country.”

This latest development in the fight to repeal DADT has prompted crotchety old man, Congressman Barney Frank to step out on his front porch and shake his cane at the neighbor kids. Frank, who is the longest serving out, gay representative in our nation's history, but who has failed to lead on LGBT rights, decided to take his testicles out of mothballs yesterday and wrote to Air Force Secretary Michael Donley asking him not to discharge Fehrenbach.

Citing that just about everybody inside and outside the Beltway is now in favor of repealing DADT, Frank writes, “Under any circumstances, the decision to discharge Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach would be not only completely unfair, but a distortion of The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. Now that we have agreement among The President, The House and the Senate Armed Services Committee that the policy should be abolished, it would be an unbelievable travesty of justice to discharge him. I strongly urge you to end the proceedings against Lt. Col. Fehrenbach.”

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Veteran Airman to Challenge DADT Discharge in Court

This just in from from SLDN Executive Director, Aubry Sarvis:

[On Wednesday], Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) and Morrison & Foerster LLP (MoFo) sought to block the discharge of their client, Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach, under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT). 

Nearly 19 years ago Lt. Col. Fehrenbach signed up to serve in the Air Force. Today our nation stands on the verge of losing this highly decorated combat aviator because of this discriminatory law. Flying nearly 90 combat missions in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo, Lt. Col. Fehrenbach is without a doubt an American hero, who has shown time and again he is willing to risk his life for his country. 

Yet even as we are fighting two wars and need the best and brightest, the government is poised to fire yet another brave patriot because he's gay. 

The Air Force Secretary can do the right thing and retain Lt. Col. Fehrenbach under the Pentagon's own recently revised regulations on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." If Secretary Donley does not step in, this nation will lose a service member worth $25 million in training whose skill sets are desperately needed today. 

Lt. Col. Fehrenbach's case demonstrates the urgent need for the Senate to act on pending legislation to repeal DADT.

Upon its return after Labor Day, the Senate must immediately take up and debate the DoD spending bill, which contains language that provides a path to get rid of DADT. 

Urge your two senators to join Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin in pushing for Senate action. 

Contact both your senators today and tell them to repeal DADT.

www.sldn.org/HelpVictor 

The pending discharge of Lt. Col. Fehrenbach dramatically underscores that DADT is still the law and all gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members should be on notice. 

It also sends a clear message that the fight to end DADT is nowhere near finished. The discharges under this terrible law continue as more service members are fired for their sexual orientation. Unless we have full repeal soon, the discharges DADT inflicts upon our service members will not end.

Join SLDN and the entire repeal coalition as we push senators in all 50 states to take up repeal legislation in September. Tell your senators that delaying action on repeal is not an option. Brave patriots like Lt. Col. Fehrenbach have already waited too long for justice. The Senate must do what's right and show due respect to all service members who risk their lives to keep America free.

Contact your senators today and urge them to help Victor by voting to end this discriminatory law. 

www.sldn.org/HelpVictor 

Each senator will play a decisive role in the Senate's expected repeal vote next month. Although the Senate is not in session now, the battle to end DADT rages on. Lt. Col. Fehrenbach's potential discharge shows why this is no time for repeal supporters to let up or tune out.

Thank you for contributing your voice to this fight for patriots like Lt. Col. Fehrenbach.


Aubrey Sarvis
SLDN Executive Director

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Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach: "survey is unnecessary" (video)

Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach, a 19-year Air Force veteran with one year left until retirement, has endured years of investigation after being deliberately and maliciously outed by a civilian. Fehrenbach spoke with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow last night about the Pentagon's Don't Ask, Don't Tell survey, saying, "You don't need a hypothetical study or survey. You can come to work with me and see real airmen, real warriors who care about the mission and only care that I'm able to do my job." 

Fehrenbach went on to say, "The questions - I don't want to say that they're insulting, but there are things in combat we just don't think about. You think about where your next meal is gonna come from. You think about your next mission. You think about your family back home. You don't think about who's showering next to you. It's questions like that that got specific seemed somewhat insulting. I think the survey is unnecessary completely."

On a personal note, what is it about a man in uniform? Woof!

General says Air Force lesbian won't be kicked out.

In a bizarre twist, an Air Force general is refusing to discharge a female officer who revealed that she is in a civil union with another woman because he alleges she is using Don't Ask, Don't Tell to avoid military service. I can't help but be reminded of Cpl. Klinger, played by Jamie Farr, in the 70's sitcom M*A*S*H, who wore women's clothes in order to get kicked out of the army. Everyone knew it was a dodge and refused to kick him out, but he kept at it.

But that was when we had a draft in this country. It was not unheard of for people to make up such stories to avoid military service back then. Those individuals were usually subjected to a battery of psychological tests for days on end to prove they were lying. For the last 35 years, we've had an all volunteer military and to my knowledge, no such testing has been required of anyone who has been discharged under DADT in the 17 years since it became law.

The Los Angeles Times reported on Friday that Lt. Robin R. Caurasiya revealed to her commanding officer, General Robert R. Allardice, that she is a lesbian, but the general claims that she's only doing it to get out of the service.

The Times reports:

At the very least, said Nathaniel Frank, an expert on "don't ask, don't tell," the Chaurasiya case appears to turn the rationale behind the gay ban on its head.

"If commanders are ignoring or rejecting credible evidence of homosexuality because of the alleged motive of the person who makes the statement, the bottom line is they are keeping gay people in the service," said Frank, a senior research fellow at UC Santa Barbara's Palm Center. "That gives the lie that known gay people undercut the military."

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