Joseph C. Steffan Papers

“Few Midshipmen at Annapolis shone as brightly as Joseph Steffan. He not only ranked among the top 10 in his class at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1987 but as a battalion commander, had under his command one-sixth of the school’s students. Then, just six weeks before graduation, Steffan told a fellow midshipman that he was gay. Although there was no evidence that Steffan had ever engaged in a homosexual act, a disciplinary board determined that his sexual orientation was reason enough for discharge. Academy officials downgraded Steffan’s military performance from A to F, and Steffan was forced to resign.” (Source: Time, November 29, 1993 Box 101 Folder 4.)

Joseph C. Steffan resigned from the United States Naval Academy in 1987, after an administrative board recommended his discharge. The board's recommendation was based solely upon Steffan's statements proclaiming himself a homosexual; he was not charged with any homosexual conduct. In 1988 he filed this action, claiming that he was constructively discharged and challenging the constitutionality of the regulations that provided for the discharge of admitted homosexuals. The factual and procedural background of the case is set out in the opinion of the district court. (733 F. Supp. 121, 122-23 (D.D.C. 1989); see also733 F. Supp. 115, 115-17 (D.D.C. 1989'0; Steffan v. Cheney, 920 F.2d 74, 75 (D.C. Cir. 1990))

On April 1, 1987, the Naval Academic Board recommended that Stefan be dismissed under Performance Manual Sec. 2.153e-Homosexuality. Steffan resigned from the Naval Academy six weeks short of his graduation date. In 1988, Steffan, with the help of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, wrote to the Secretary of the Navy to request that his letter of resignation be withdrawn and he be reinstated. There was no response to the request. On January 29, 1989, Joseph Steffan v. Richard Cheney, was filed in the Federal District courthouse in Washington D.C. in an effort to gain Steffan’s reinstatement. Judge Oliver Gasch was assigned the case. As the case gained national attention, the Lambda Legal Defense lawyers had backing from Marc Wolinsky, a partner at New York's Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz, who became the representing lawyer in the case, handling the oral argument pro bono, and from four amicus briefs filed by 11 civil-liberties and other groups. (Source: Legal Times, Week of September 6, 1993, p. 17, Box 71, folder 12 Lexis Nexis article)

In 1993, a three-judge panel ruled in favor of Steffan and ordered him reinstated. The Navy appealed the case. On November 8, 1994, In 1994 the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reversed the order in Joseph C. Steffan v. William J. Perry.

U.S. District Court Judge Oliver Gasch Dismissed the case on the grounds that during a six-hour deposition taken by the Navy in September, Steffan refused to answer specific questions about his sexual activities. Steffan’s attorneys had advised him not to answer because no charges of sexual misconduct have been lodged against him, making the issue legally irrelevant. They also argued that had Steffan taken his case to a full discharge proceeding he could have refused to answer questions about his sexual activity by invoking the 5th Amendment, which precludes self-incrimination.

(see Howard Scheider, “The Case of the Gay Midshipman”, Washington Post Magazine, 1991, Box 101, Folder 5).

Steffan went on to complete his undergraduate work at North Dakota State University (1987-1989), and then attended the University of Connecticut School of Law (1991-1994), where he was awarded his J.D. In 2000, Joseph C. Steffan ’94 donated more than 50 boxes of to the Law School Library, documenting his seven-year legal battle over his dismissal from the United States Naval Academy.