Steffan v. Aspin

Full Case Title: Steffan v. Aspin, 8 F. 3d 57 (D.C. Cir 1993)

Description: Considered whether Department of Defense regulations against homosexuality in the military violate the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause.

Year: 1993

Legal Momentum's Role: Contributed Amicus Brief

Brief:

Steffan v. Aspin Amicus Brief (PDF)

This case considered whether Department of Defense Directives instructing that "[h]omosexuality is incompatible with military service" violate the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause.  Although this case concerned the discharge of a gay man from the Naval Academy, Legal Momentum's brief argued that the military’s ban on homosexual members institutionalizes lesbian-baiting, the practice of threatening the careers of military women, whether or not they are lesbians, by calling them lesbians.