Gay Air Force Vet Can Sue for Equal Severance

[The Straight Story]

Gay Air Force Vet Can Sue for Equal Severance
By WILLIAM DOTINGA
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(CN) - A class action alleging that the U.S. government gave a fraction of the severance pay due to an Air Force staff sergeant honorably discharged under the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy will play out in the Court of Federal Claims.

Richard Collins sued the government in November 2010 on behalf of himself and other service members who were discharged under DADT between 2004 and 2010. Department of Defense instructions include "homosexuality" as condition meriting half separation pay, according to the complaint. Collins said this policy violates service members' rights to equal protection and substantive due process.

Involuntarily discharged after over nine years of able Air Force service, Collins qualified for nearly $27,000 in separation pay, according to the complaint. He instead received $13,000.

Attorneys for the government moved to dismiss the case, arguing that the Court of Federal Claims lacked jurisdiction over the military and that Collins had failed to state a claim for which relief could be granted. But Judge Christine Odell Cook Miller disagreed.

http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/11/03/41179.htm

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