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''McVeigh v. Cohen'' was a 1998 lawsuit in U.S. federal court in which a member of the U.S. Armed Forces challenged the military's application of its "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) policy, which established guidelines for service by gays and lesbians in the U.S. military. The U.S. Navy sought to discharge Timothy R. McVeigh for declaring his homosexuality. McVeigh's suit denied he had made such a declaration and charged the Navy with failure to adhere to its own DADT policy and, in the course of investigating him, with violating the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. McVeigh won a preliminary injunction and the Navy, without acknowledging culpability, allowed him to retire with an honorable discharge. The ''New York Times'' called it "a victory for gay rights, with implications for the millions of people who use computer on-line services". ==Background== Timothy R. McVeigh entered for Navy at the age of 18 around 1980 and earned four Good Conduct Medals and the Navy Commendation Medal. His performance review circa the end of 1997 described him as "an outstanding role model" and the "embodiment of Navy core values". In September 1997, while based in Honolulu and serving on a nuclear submarine,〔 he sent email messages from his America Online (AOL) account that used the screen name "boysrch" and the signature "Tim" when communicating with a civilian working as a volunteer on a Navy-sponsored charity. The AOL user directory identified the marital status of the owner of that AOL account as "gay". The information reached naval authorities. A Navy paralegal, misrepresenting himself, obtained confirmation from AOL by telephone that the account belonged to McVeigh. The Navy initiated an administrative discharge on the basis of his "homosexual conduct, as evidenced by your statement that you are homosexual." In November, a board held a hearing at which McVeigh acknowledged he had authored the email messages using the boysrch account and presented evidence of relationships with women. They concluded that by a preponderance of the evidence McVeigh had engaged in "homosexual conduct". With his discharge scheduled for January 16, 1998, Senior Chief Petty Officer McVeigh, represented by Proskauer Rose, filed suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on January 15 seeking a preliminary injunction to bar his discharge. His suit name Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen as principal defendant. At stake in addition to his job and income were the pension, health and life insurance, and other benefits due someone separating honorably from the Navy when he expected to retire after 20 years of service. The Navy, after first resisting, acceded to the court's request to delay the discharge until January 27. Privacy advocates thought the case important. David L. Sobel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center said: "It is probably the most clear-cut example we have of a violation of this statute on the part of the Government. If the Navy prevails, it will basically mean there is no meaningful protection against government intrusion in cyberspace."〔 An AOL spokesman said: "We have clear policies in place that our member service representatives don't give out member information. What is disturbing to us is that the Navy may have circumvented established channels that we have for working with law enforcement in an attempt to get information about one of our members."〔 A representative of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, an advocacy group for gay and lesbian military personnel, said: "Timothy McVeigh didn't work hard to get on anybody's radar screen. The only information that the Navy has is this AOL profile, and I think there's a strong argument that this is the sort of case that demands discretion from the military."〔 Frank Rich thought McVeigh could be〔 He contrasted the different treatment the U.S. military afforded two men named Timothy McVeigh. For years the U.S. Army ignored the racism and anti-government radicalism of Timothy J. McVeigh, who went on to perpetrate the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. The U.S. Navy, by contrast "torments the second, exemplary Timothy McVeigh for the ''crime'' of having a private life that should be nobody's business but his own".〔 On the morning of January 21, before a hearing in the case, AOL acknowledged its customer service representative should not have released information about McVeigh. It also said the Navy had violated federal law and reported it had lodged protests with the Navy and Department of Defense. McVeigh's attorney also brought to court a statement from sociologist Charles Moskos of Northwestern University, architect of the DADT policy, who supported McVeigh and called the Navy's investigation of his sexual orientation "unwarranted". His statement said: "In simple terms, Senior Chief McVeigh did not 'tell' in a manner contemplated under the policy–he sent an anonymous e-mail which did not list his surname or his Navy connection".〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「McVeigh v. Cohen」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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