The Nation - News from Aug. 10, 1989

Saying sexual orientation is important for maintaining discipline and the integrity of command, a federal appeals court has barred an Army Reserve sergeant from re-enlisting because she is a lesbian. The U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision allowing Miriam Ben-Shalom of Milwaukee to rejoin the Army Reserve. The Army had refused to allow her to re-enlist because of her professed homosexuality. Ben-Shalom’s attorney said she will appeal. A district judge had earlier called the case a free-speech matter, but the appeals court panel wrote “it is the identity that makes her ineligible for military service, not the speaking of it aloud.”