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By ANNE FLAHERTY and JULIE WATSON, Associated Press Writers


      SAN DIEGO (AP) - At least three service members discharged for
being gay have begun the process to re-enlist after the Pentagon
directed the military to accept openly gay recruits for the first
time in the nation's history.


      The top-level guidance issued to recruiting commands last week
and announced Tuesday marked a significant change in an institution
long resistant and sometimes hostile to gays.


      "Gay people have been fighting for equality in the military
since the 1960s," said Aaron Belkin, executive director of the
Palm Center, a think tank on gays and the military at the
University of California Santa Barbara. "It took a lot to get to
this day."


      The movement to overturn the military's "don't ask, don't
tell" policy gained speed when President Barack Obama campaigned
on its repeal. The effort stalled in Congress this fall and found
new life last month when a federal judge in California declared it
unconstitutional.


      The recruiting announcement came even as the Justice Department
battles in the courts to slow the movement to abolish the 1993
Clinton-era policy.


      U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips rejected the government's
latest effort Tuesday to halt her order telling the military to
stop enforcing the law. Government lawyers have said they will
appeal.


      The Defense Department has said it would comply with Phillips'
order and had frozen any discharge cases. Pentagon spokeswoman
Cynthia Smith said Tuesday recruiters had been given top-level
guidance to accept applicants who say they are gay.


      AP interviews found some recruiters following the order and
others saying they had not heard of the announcement.


      Recruiters also have been told to inform potential recruits that
the moratorium on enforcement of the policy could be reversed at
any time, if the ruling is appealed or the court grants a stay, she
said.


      Gay rights groups were continuing to tell service members to
avoid revealing that they are gay, fearing they could find
themselves in trouble should the law be reinstated.


      "What people aren't really getting is that the discretion and
caution that gay troops are showing now is exactly the same
standard of conduct that they will adhere to when the ban is lifted
permanently," Belkin said. "Yes, a few will try to become
celebrities."


      An Air Force officer and co-founder of a gay service member
support group called OutServe said financial considerations are
playing a big role in gay service members staying quiet.


      "The military has financially trapped us," he said, noting
that he could owe the military about $200,000 if he were to be
dismissed.


      The officer, who asked not to be identified for fear of being
discharged, said he's hearing increasingly about heterosexual
service members approaching gay colleagues and telling them they
can come out now.


      He also said more gay service members are coming out to their
peers who are friends, while keeping it secret from leadership. He
said he has come out to two peers in the last few days.


      An opponent of the judge's ruling said confusion that has come
up is exactly what Pentagon officials feared, and shows the need
for the judge to immediately freeze her order while the government
appeals.


      "Judge Phillips' refusal to grant an emergency stay is an
incredible display of contempt for the constitution and our nation's military leaders who say overturning this law will be
enormously disruptive for the men and women who defend our
country," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research
Council, a conservative advocacy group based in Washington that
supports the policy.


      The law's uncertain status has caused much confusion within an
institution that has historically discriminated against gays.


      Before the 1993 law, the military banned gays entirely and
declared them incompatible with military service. There have been
instances in which gays have served, with the knowledge of their
colleagues.


      Twenty-nine nations, including Israel, Canada, Germany and
Sweden, allow openly gay troops, according to the Log Cabin
Republicans, a gay rights group and plaintiff in the lawsuit before
Phillips.


      The Pentagon guidance to recruiters comes after Dan Woods, the
group's attorney, sent a letter last week warning the Justice
Department that Army recruiters who turned away Omar Lopez in
Austin, Texas, may have caused the government to violate Phillips'
injunction. Woods wrote that the government could be subject to a
citation for contempt.


      The White House has insisted its actions in court do not
diminish Obama's efforts to repeal the ban.


      In their stay request, government lawyers argue Phillips' order
would be disruptive to troops serving at a time of war. They say
the military needs time to prepare new regulations and train and
educate service members about the change.


      Phillips has said her order does not prohibit the Pentagon from
implementing those measures.


      The judge also said safeguarding constitutional rights
outweighed the government's unproven concerns of the order's impact
on military readiness and unit cohesion.


      "Defendants merely conclude, without explanation, that
'confusion and uncertainty' will result if the injunction remains
in place," she said in her ruling Tuesday. "Thus, defendants have
failed to establish they are likely to suffer irreparable injury if
a stay is not granted."


      Her decision will likely send the case to the 9th Circuit Court
of Appeals in San Francisco.


      Douglas Smith, spokesman for U.S. Army Recruiting Command based
at Fort Knox, Ky., said even before the ruling recruiters did not
ask applicants about their sexual orientation. The difference now
is that recruiters will process those who say they are gay.


      "U.S. Army Recruiting Command is going to follow the law,
whatever the law is," Smith said.


      The message, however, had not reached some recruiting stations.


      In Pensacola, Fla., Marine Sgt. Timothy Chandler said he had
been given no direction. "As far as we are concerned everything is
the same. The policy hasn't changed," he said, as others in the
office nodded.


      Chandler said no one had come to the small office questioning
the policy or asking about being openly gay and serving.


      Recruiters at the Navy office next door referred all media
questions to the Pentagon. Air Force recruiters said they were not
authorized to talk to the media. Army recruiters referred questions
to another office in Mobile, Ala.


      In New York's Times Square, Dan Choi, a 29-year-old Iraq War
veteran who was discharged for being gay, began the process to
enlist in the Army.


      In San Diego, Will Rodriguez, a former Marine who was discharged
under the policy in 2008, gave his contact information to
recruiters. He said they told him there were currently no slots for
Marines who had served and want to re-enlist.


      He said they told him they would call him in January when more
slots could open.


      Randy Miller, 24, of Stockton, Calif., was honorably discharged
from the Army under "don't ask, don't tell" in 2006. He said he
was turned away from the local Army recruiting station Tuesday by
two staff sergeants who said they had not heard about the Pentagon
guidance.


      Miller then went to the Navy recruiter's office next door and
was allowed to start the process of joining.


      Several service members discharged under the policy told The
Associated Press they plan to try to rejoin this week.


      Flaherty reported from Washington. Associated Press writers
Kristin M. Hall in Nashville, Tenn., Lisa Leff in San Francisco,
Melissa R. Nelson in Pensacola, Fla., Verena Dobnik in New York, Ed
White in Detroit, John Milburn in Topeka, Kan., and Brian Witte in
Annapolis, Md., contributed to this report.
      

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Social Issues

At least three service members discharged for
being gay have begun the process to re-enlist after the Pentagon
directed the military to accept openly gay recruits for the first
time in the nation's history.

Troops discharged for being gay try to re-enlist

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