"No" to Matlovich

Since his disclosure six months ago that he is a practicing homosexual, T/Sgt. Leonard Matlovich, 32, has fought to remain in the U.S. Air Force, which with equal determination has been trying to oust him. Last week Matlovich (TIME cover, Sept. 8) lost the first round of the battle that he has vowed to take to the U.S. Supreme Court if need be. A three-man board of Air Force officers at Virginia's Langley Air Force Base voted unanimously after a hearing to recommend that Matlovich be separated from the Air Force with a general (less than honorable) discharge. In reaching its decision, the panel was asked by the presiding officer to consider only two questions: 1) whether Matlovich's homosexuality interfered with his ability to perform military service, and 2) whether "most unusual circumstances" existed that would justify keeping him in the Air Force.

Half Dollar. After Matlovich refused on the stand to "contract to be celibate, not to practice homosexuality," Colonel James Applegate, the Air Force equivalent of a prosecutor, charged that those unusual circumstances could not exist "when Sergeant Matlovich says 'I am going to go out and do what homosexuals do.' " The panel apparently agreed. Their recommendation will be reviewed by higher Air Force officers, and a final decision on Matlovich's case will be made by Secretary of the Air Force John McLucas.

At a news conference after the decision was announced, a smiling, determined Matlovich held up a Bicentennial half dollar and observed: "It says 200 years of freedom. Not yet--but it will be some day." Then, with his friends, many of them homosexuals and in uniform, he retired to the Cue bar in Norfolk to drink beer.

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