THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 11, 1994 TAG: 9407110005
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KERRY DEROCHI, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 104 lines
A year ago, the two Navy officers stood side by side before a Senate committee, trying to convince a nation they had earned the right to serve.
In voices that trembled at times with anger and tears, they told the panel that a ban on service members who acknowledge their homosexuality was unwarranted and unfair.
This week, their campaign starts anew.
In hearings scheduled in Washington and Norfolk, the officers will be brought before separate three-member disciplinary boards on charges they violated the Defense Department's ban.
They will be called on to rebut accusations that they violated a new ``don't ask, don't tell'' policy by going public with their stories, by becoming the symbols of their cause.
If they can't, the officers - Tracy Thorne and Dirk Selland - will likely be discharged.
Few predict they will win.
``It's `don't ask, don't tell,' and he told,'' said Hank Hockeimer, a Washington attorney who represents Selland. ``We don't have high expectations.''
The hearings, expected to last two or three days, go the heart of the Defense Department policy, adopted a year ago after a series of contentious hearings before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee.
The policy prohibits military officers from asking a recruit's sexual orientation or investigating rumors that a person is gay. But homosexuals, such as Selland or Thorne, who divulge their sexuality could face dismissal.
Thorne, a former A-6 bombardier-navigator at Oceana Naval Air Station, went on ABC-TV's ``Nightline'' in May 1992 to announce he was gay. Selland was stationed on a submarine in January 1993 when he confided to his chaplain and his commanding officer that he was a homosexual.
How the two boards, each comprising three Navy captains, interpret those statements will determine whether either officer will be allowed to stay in the service.
The decisions could also determine the future of ``don't ask, don't tell.''
Waiting in the wings are gay rights activists and legal experts who are eager to take the Defense Department's new policy back into federal court. Already, one such suit has been filed in New York by six service members challenging ``don't ask, don't tell'' as unconstitutional.
Many of the activists view the cases of Selland and Thorne as the best legal challenge to date.
Both had stellar records as junior-grade lieutenants. Both were being drummed out for simply saying they are gay.
``I think the real fate of this policy will depend on the courts,'' said Gregory King, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign Fund, a gay rights organization based in Washington. ``The military and political branches of the government have agreed to accept `lie and hide' for the time being.
``But there's a general understanding that this policy will not stand.''
Michelle Benecke, a Washington lawyer who used to serve in the Army, said both Thorne and Selland disproved the Defense Department's contention that openly gay service members could not serve without destroying unit morale.
Thorne, 27, is assigned to the Naval Air Systems Command in Washington. Selland, 25, works as a supply officer with the fleet supply center at Norfolk Naval Base.
``Dirk has been serving continuously on active duty since he told his chaplain,'' said Benecke, co-founder of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a private group that provides legal help to gays in the military. ``It's just ridiculous for them to argue he would harm the military when he's been serving there more than a year.''
For Selland and Thorne, the upcoming hearings mark the final phase of what has been a painful and exhausting struggle.
Thorne, who boldly unveiled his secret on national television, has played a much quieter role in his new post at the Pentagon. Selland, a soft-spoken man from Maryland's Eastern Shore, anxiously awaits the return of the television trucks to his quiet Virginia Beach neighborhood.
``I don't look forward to the hoopla that's going to come about,'' Selland said. ``My stomach turns.
``I have just had so much happen. It's taken it's toll in more ways than one.'' ILLUSTRATION: REUTERS color file photo
Lt. j.g. Tracy Thorne, right, and Lt. j.g. Dirk Selland are
scheduled to face Navy disciplinary boards this week. They could be
dismissed from the service for declaring their homosexuality.
THIS WEEK
Two Navy men face separate hearings on charges they violated
military policy by divulging their homosexuality.
TRACY THORNE, 27: Former A-6 bombardier-navigator at Oceana Naval
Air Station went public on national television. Now assigned to the
Naval Air Systems Command at the pentagon, he faces a hearing today
in Washington.
DIRK SELLAND, 25: confided in his commanding officer while serving
aboard a Norfolk-based submarine. Now a supply officer at Norfolk
naval Base, his hearing is scheduled for Tuesday in Norfolk.
KEYWORDS: HOMOSEXUALS MILITARY U.S. NAVY
GAYS IN THE MILITARY
by CNB