before i lose my style

steverettger:

I was able to read through the 9th Circuit’s Perry decision today and consequently found the best citation ever:

High Tech Gays, et al v. Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office, et al 895 F.2d 563 (9th Cir. 1990)

Mhm, that’s right: High Tech Gays v. DISCO.

From the class definition in the underlying complaint:

All gay persons who, since January 1982, have applied for, are now applying for, or may in the future apply for Secret or Top Secret industrial clearances from DISCO, in any of the eight DIS regions in the country, and all gay persons who, since January, 1982, have held, now hold, or may in the future hold such clearances.

“Top Secret industrial clearances from DISCO.” How is this not something awarded by Gloria Gaynor?

And, yes, it blows because the end decision was rejecting heightened scrutiny, gay-as-status rejected in favor of gay-as-behavior, and finding a “rational basis for defendants’ subjecting all gay applicants to expanded investigations and mandatory adjudications while not doing the same for all straight applicants,” and this was in the 90s and it’s horrible to have to confront that this McCarthy-esque attitude prevailed that late, and it wasn’t remedied until Clinton’s 1995 executive order, but

High Tech Gays v. DISCO