Court asked to toss ‘don’t tell’ lawsuit

WASHINGTON – The Bush administration on Monday asked a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the Pentagon’s 11-year-old “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

The government said last year’s landmark Supreme Court ruling that overturned state laws making gay sex a crime does not undercut the military’s policy that allows gays and lesbians to serve as long as they abstain from homosexual activity and don’t reveal their sexual orientation.

Courts previously have upheld the policy, approved by Congress and put in place by the Clinton administration.

“These decisions are unaffected by the Supreme Court’s decision,” the administration said in a filing in U.S. District Court in Boston, where the lawsuit was filed.