Court Orders Maj. Margaret Witt Reinstated: DADT Unconstitutional

The Christianists and Barack Obama suffered a second major blow as an other federal court found DADT to be unconstitutional and ordered the reinstatement of Major Margaret Whitt who was discharged under the religious bigotry writ law in DADT. After Tuesday's Senate vote, it's obvious many in Congress should resign for supporting an unconstitutional law and basically showing contempt for the Constitution's guaranty of religious freedom and its prohibition of religious tests. While pundits on the right and blogs run by self-loathing closet cases like Matt Drudge have denigrated Lady Gaga's activism, the truth is the 24 year old entertainer has a better grasp of what equality under the law means than 43 U.S. Senators. Faced with two court decisions now, will Obama continue to kiss the ass of the Christian Right and Christianists within the military or uphold the Constitution? If he had a spine, he'd support the Constitution, but sadly, Obama seems to be made of Jello - so I'm not holding my breath. Here are highlights from the Los Angeles Times on yesterday's ruling:
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The U.S. military violated the constitutional rights of a decorated Air Force Reserve flight nurse when it discharged her under the "don't ask, don't tell" ban on gays in the armed forces, a federal judge said Friday in ordering her reinstatement.
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U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton's order applied only to Maj. Margaret Witt, but the judge in Tacoma, Wash., made it clear that a blanket policy of dismissing openly gay military personnel from the armed forces violated an appeals court holding that such action was justified only if it advanced important military objectives.
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Leighton cited Witt's exemplary career and performance evaluations as evidence that the Air Force was unharmed by her sexual orientation. In fact, he noted, former colleagues had testified that it was her dismissal that proved disruptive of the aeromedical unit's mission, not her homosexuality.
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Witt and her attorneys heralded the ruling as a victory for the armed forces and the soldiers and sailors serving their country.
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"Many people forget that the U.S. military is the most diverse workforce in the world — we are extremely versed in adaptation," said Witt, adding that she looked forward to rejoining her unit at McChord Air Force Base near Tacoma. "Thousands of men and women who are gay and lesbian honorably serve this country in our military."
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Leighton observed at the conclusion of the trial on Witt's lawsuit seeking reinstatement that he was bound by a 2008 ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that said gays couldn't be fired from the military unless their discharge was necessary to further important military objectives.
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During the trial that concluded this week, Witt reiterated that she had never disclosed her sexual orientation to Air Force colleagues, nor had she ever engaged in homosexual relations on duty or on military grounds. She had been in a committed relationship for six years with a civilian woman with whom she shared a home in Spokane, Wash., 250 miles away from the base.
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DADT needs to end. Despite John McCain's untethered claims, witch hunts are going on constantly and I have had clients discharged who never knew for sure who even was their accuser(s).