Cammermeyer v. Aspin

Cammermeyer applied to the Army War College in April of 1989 to receive training to further her career goal of becoming chief nurse of the National Guard Bureau. During a related top secret security check, Cammermeyer--a divorced mother of four who had recently fallen in love with a female artist--was asked to disclose her sexual orientation. She answered that she was a lesbian and afterward initialed a statement explaining, "I am a Lesbian. Lesbianism is an orientation I have, emotional in nature, toward women. It does not imply sexual activity . . . "

The Washington State National Guard decided not to replace Cammermeyer as chief nurse and told her that "unless forced to do so" by the Department of the Army in Washington, D.C., they would not pursue her discharge. The National Guard also gave Cammermeyer the opportunity to resign quietly, which she turned down.

In October, the U.S. Army began proceedings to withdraw Cammermeyer's federal recognition of her state National Guard rank--based on Regulation AR 135-175. The regulation, which had been in effect since 1982, required the discharge from the military of any "member [who] has stated that he/she is a homosexual or bisexual, unless there is a further finding that the member is not a homosexual or bisexual."

Cammermeyer continued to serve as chief nurse, earning superb evaluations, while a military retention board conducted a three-year-long investigation. Although she was given several opportunities to retract her statement, she never did so. Telling the truth, she later explained, "was the very premise of everything I stood for in my entire life and career."

She told the truth again at a two-day hearing before the military retention board in July of 1991. At its conclusion, the board recommended that Cammermeyer's federal recognition be withdrawn. Assuming the recommendation was followed, the state National Guard would soon be forced to discharge Cammermeyer.

Colonel Patsy Thompson, former chief nurse of the National Guard Bureau, was clearly reluctant to make this recommendation. Before reading it, she read another statement on behalf of all its members:

I truly believe that you are one of the great Americans, Margarethe. And I've admired you for a long time and the work that you've done and all that you've done for the Army National Guard. When I was Chief Nurse, I said many times, I am really glad we have Margarethe Cammermeyer . . . She's doing such an outstanding job. We're really fortunate that she came to us. And I really mean that. And I still do mean that.

Thompson also read statements from "just a few of the people that you've touched in your thirty years of military career," including statements from one nurse who called it "a rare privilege to work under you during your tenure as Chief Nurse" and another who said Cammermeyer's "ability to lead and inspire others was obvious . . . " Nevertheless, she said, it was also her "sad duty" to read the board's official recommendation that Colonel Cammermeyer's federal recognition be withdrawn--an action that would result in her discharge.

Cammermeyer was honorably discharged on 11 June 1992, and she promptly filed a suit against the U.S. Army in the U.S. District Court, Seattle, Washington.