A Need for Some Uniform Rules : A top-notch soldier is lost due to an outdated Pentagon policy

Margarethe Cammermeyer joined the Army as a student nurse in 1961. In the three decades that followed, on active duty in the Vietnam War, in the reserves and most recently as chief nurse in the Washington National Guard, Cammermeyer rose to the rank of colonel. She earned a doctorate in nursing, compiled an unblemished service record and was named the Veteran’s Administration “Nurse of the Year” in 1985.

But last month, Cammermeyer was forced to resign from the service that she loves and had served with such distinction. In 1989, the divorced mother of four was asked during a routine security investigation whether she was a lesbian. Her honest answer--that she is--set in motion the process that would force her retirement. Cammermeyer is now among the most recent of the more than 13,300 people who have been discharged from the armed forces since 1982 because they are homosexuals.

The policy of banning homosexuals from the military dates from 1943 and is based on a number of stated assumptions. Among them are that the presence of homosexuals “seriously impairs the accomplishments of the military mission” and “affects the ability of the military services to maintain discipline, good order and morale.” Note, though, that in Cammermeyer’s case as in so many others, no specific activity in violation of regulations was alleged, no claim was made that she impaired discipline, morale or conduct of the military’s mission. Her separation from the military came not because of anything she did , but solely and arbitrarily because of what she is .

Cammermeyer will join others who have gone to court to challenge the anachronistic prejudice underlying the military’s ban on homosexuals. In two such cases, the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco has ruled against the military. Ultimately the question of the inflexible refusal of the military to have known homosexuals in its ranks will go to the Supreme Court. There can be, we think, only one reasonable, just and fair ruling: men and women cannot be banned from the military solely because they are homosexuals. The valid test is how people in uniform conduct themselves while under military discipline. The same rules must apply to heterosexuals and homosexuals alike.