Keith Meinhold (born c. 1963) is an American former Navy first class petty officer. He is a veteran of the US Navy who successfully challenged the Navy's attempt to discharge him for coming out as gay in 1992 and ended his Navy career in 1996, one of the first openly gay U.S. service members to be honorably discharged.
Early career
Volker Keith Meinhold grew up in Stuart, Florida. On April 10, 1980, at the age of 17, rather than repeat the 11th grade at Martin County High School, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He realized he was gay after enlisting and came out to his family in 1990 at Christmas.
During his first decade of service in the Navy, Meinhold received merit promotions and was commended in his performance evaluations for "outstanding job performance," "positive influence on squadron morale," and "excellent rapport with both seniors and his peers." He left the Navy in July 1985 and re-enlisted in October 1985. He worked as a flight sonar analyst and instructor at Moffett Field Naval Air Station, near San Jose, California, where, according to later court filings, he was "consistently praised by students for his teaching abilities." Meinhold flew missions throughout the Pacific and Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf.
He supervised a team of 32 Navy instructors and was recognized as "Aircrew Instructor of the Year". In September 1991, he was awarded the title "Master Training Specialist", an honor granted to those rated in the top ten percent of all Navy instructors.
Meinhold worked with a group that helped gays being discharged from the Navy find employment. They were overwhelmed by anti-homosexual campaigns–he called them "witch hunts"–on certain ships, the USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) and USS Independence (CV-62). He contacted the Human Rights Campaign about the problem and they arranged for him to speak with the media about the witch hunts and about being gay in the Navy. On May 19, 1992, he declared his homosexuality in an interview on the ABC News program World News Tonight when he told a television interviewer: "Yes, in fact, I am gay."
Discharge proceedings
On the basis of that statement, the Navy convened a discharge board to consider his case. Several officers testified on his behalf and one apologized for any inadvertent prejudice and said he had changed his opinion about homosexuals as a result of knowing Meinhold. The Navy decided to discharge Meinhold on June 30, and he was separated from the Navy on August 12, 1992.
Meinhold sued in federal court contending that his discharge had violated the Constitution's equal protection guarantee and that the Navy board had acted unfairly by refusing to tell him at his discharge hearing whether he was being judged for acknowledging his homosexuality or for engaging in homosexual acts, something he consistently denied. On November 7, 1992, U.S. District Court Judge Terry J. Hatter, Jr. issued a temporary injunction against the Navy and ordered Meinhold reinstated.
Meinhold returned to work, where many of his colleagues had known he was gay before his television appearance. He told reporters that "Some people have asked to be excused from performing military duties because of religious objections–that homosexuality is wrong." Their commander officers excused them from working alongside him. "I think that was wrong," Meinhold said.
On November 12, President-elect Bill Clinton, in response to a reporter's question at his first post-election press conference about the injunction in Meinhold's case, reaffirmed his commitment to lift restrictions on military service by gays and lesbians early in his presidency.
Hatter made the injunction permanent when he issued his decision in the case on January 28, 1993. He wrote that Meinhold's discharge violated the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection and that a discharge was unjustifiable "in the absence of sexual conduct which interferes with the military mission." He wrote: "Gays and lesbians have served, and continue to serve, the United States military with honor, pride, dignity and loyalty. The Department of Defense's justifications for its policy banning gays and lesbians from military service are based on cultural myths and false stereotypes. These justifications are baseless and very similar to the reasons offered to keep the military racially segregated in the 1940s." Hatter cited a study commissioned by the Defense Department in 1988 that found that sexual orientation was not related to job performance and quoted Lawrence J. Korb, an Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Reagan administration, who had said "there is no longer any justification for the armed services' current ban on homosexuals serving in the military."