Almy et al v. United States Department of Defense et al

Filing 43

MOTION for Partial Summary Judgment filed by Michael D. Almy, Jason D. Knight, Anthony J. Loverde. Motion Hearing set for 9/1/2011 01:30 PM in Courtroom 3, 17th Floor, San Francisco before Hon. Richard Seeborg. Responses due by 8/10/2011. Replies due by 8/17/2011. (Attachments: # 1 Declaration by Almy, # 2 Exhibit 1 to Almy Dec, # 3 Exhibit 2 to Almy Dec, # 4 Exhibit 3 to Almy Dec, # 5 Exhibit 4 to Almy Dec, # 6 Exhibit 5 to Almy Dec, # 7 Exhibit 6 to Almy Dec, # 8 Exhibit 7 to Almy Dec, # 9 Exhibit 8 to Almy Dec, # 10 Exhibit 9 to Almy Dec, # 11 Exhibit 10 to Almy Dec, # 12 Declaration by Knight, # 13 Exhibit 1 to Knight Dec, # 14 Exhibit 2 to Knight Dec, # 15 Exhibit 3 to Knight Dec, # 16 Exhibit 4 to Knight Dec, # 17 Exhibit 5 to Knight Dec, # 18 Exhibit 6 to Knight Dec, # 19 Exhibit 7 to Knight Dec, # 20 Declaration by Loverde, # 21 Exhibit 1 to Loverde Dec, # 22 Exhibit 2 to Loverde Dec, # 23 Exhibit 3 to Loverde Dec, # 24 Exhibit 4 to Loverde Dec, # 25 Exhibit 5 to Loverde Dec, # 26 Exhibit 6 to Loverde Dec, # 27 Exhibit 7 to Loverde Dec, # 28 Certificate/Proof of Service)(Woodmansee, Mark) (Filed on 7/27/2011) Modified on 8/4/2011 (gba, COURT STAFF).

Discharged gay sailor is called back to active duty - News - Stripes

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Discharged gay sailor is called back to active duty
By JOSEPH GIORDONO
Stars and Stripes
Published: May 6, 2007

On his wedding night in July 2004, then-Petty Officer 3rd Class Jason Knight finally accepted a truth he had
was gay.
Almost immediately, he moved to get his marriage annulled. He apologized to the woman he’d married. And w
his changing circumstances to the Navy, he left nothing out. Under the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy,
from the service.
But now — whether through a clerical oversight or what some claim is an unwritten change in policy to keep m
the ranks at a time of war — Jason Knight is back on active duty.
Since promoted to petty officer second class, Knight is finishing a scheduled one-year tour in Kuwait with Nav
And, already kicked out of the Navy once, he sees no need to hide his sexual orientation.
“I thought it was a joke at first,” he said, remembering the day he received his recall orders. “It was the ultima
thought, there isn’t much they can do to me they haven’t done the first time.”
It was comments by Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that spurred Knight to
time. In defending the military’s policy, Pace called homosexual acts immoral and contrary to military values.
“Though I respect [Pace] as a leader, it made me so mad,” Knight said.
“I spent four years in the Navy, buried fallen servicemembers as part of the Ceremonial Guard, served as a He
Intelligence, and received awards for exemplary service,” he wrote in a letter to Stripes. “However, because I w
me and recouped my 13k sign-on bonus. Nine months later, the Navy recalled me to active duty. Did I accept
happened? Of course I did, and I would do it again. Because I love the Navy and I love my country. And despi
shipmates support me.”
Those shipmates include his direct supervisors in the customs battalion.
“He’s better than the average sailor at his job,” said Bill Driver, the leading petty officer of Knight’s 15-person
not at all a strange situation. As open as he is now, it was under wraps for quite a while. It wasn’t an issue at w
Another sailor with the detail, Petty Officer 1st Class Tisha Hanson, works in admin and has had to process di
sailors before.
“I’ve obviously never heard of something like this happening before,” she said of Knight’s return to active duty
The Navy tends to keep people who don’t want to be here, but Jason does.”
In Knight’s case, he was given an honorable discharge when booted from the Navy on April 4, 2005. Though i
in the military’s policy on discharging gays allows commanders discretion on what form of discharge to give a
In many cases, a legal expert at an advocacy group working to repeal the policy said, that’s exactly what happe

http://www.stripes.com/news/discharged-gay-sailor-is-called-back-to-active-duty-1.63600

7/25/2011

Discharged gay sailor is called back to active duty - News - Stripes

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“The vast majority of [discharge papers] give the narrative reason as ‘homosexual conduct,’” said Kathi Westc
at the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network in Washington, D.C.
But, “individual commanders sometimes think the servicemember is a good troop, and they don’t want them
‘black mark,’” she said.
Westcott said that Pace’s comments — and a study showing declining numbers of discharges for gay servicem
debate about the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
The renewed debate includes suggestions that the Pentagon is less interested in kicking out gay servicememb
show that discharges of gay servicemembers dropped to 612 in 2006. The peak of such discharges was in 200
The numbers have fallen steadily each year — from 906 in 2002 to 787 in 2003, and on down. At a time when
meet recruiting goals, many point to the numbers as a wartime trend. Others reject that claim. And the major
opposed to openly serving gay troops.
Defenders of the policy say even, or especially, during war, the harm outdoes the good.
“I believe polarization of personnel and breakdown of unit effectiveness is too high a price to pay for well-inte
to elevate the interests of a minority of homosexual servicemembers above those of their units,” Sen. John Mc
and former Navy officer, wrote in an April 16 letter explaining his support of the policy.
“Most importantly, the national security of the United States, not to mention the lives of our men and women
risk by policies detrimental to the good order and discipline which so distinguish America’s armed services.”
Still, Pentagon stats show that only .3 percent of all discharges are for homosexual conduct.
Navy personnel officials declined to comment on personnel cases in particular. But one official, speaking on b
the policy wouldn’t preclude a second discharge for Knight. Though, the source said, it was more likely the Na
short-term active-duty recall to expire.
Knight’s current orders, issued on June 6, 2006, call for him to be on active duty for 365 days. Knight said he
and is even looking for ways to return to active duty full time, perhaps through the officers candidate school.
Brandy Jackson has known Knight since they served in the Ceremonial Guard in 2001. Later, both were sent t
linguist and she as a Mandarin Chinese specialist. When she washed out of the program, she was sent to the U
Diego, but soon made her way out of the Navy.
Jackson is also gay and “never looked back. I no longer wanted to live in hiding, and saw the opportunity to ge
She calls Knight’s situation “horrible,” but finds an odd justice in his recall to active duty.
“He is such an honest person with so much integrity, I could not believe when he told me he was going back in
said Jackson, a 25-year-old now studying to be a game programmer. “There are outstanding sailors out there
Jason, that contribute a great deal to the United States military and the cause we fight for.”
Don't ask, don't tell:
Sailors say Kitty Hawk’s ‘homophobic culture’ forced them to out themselves
Discharged gay sailor is called back to active duty

http://www.stripes.com/news/discharged-gay-sailor-is-called-back-to-active-duty-1.63600

7/25/2011