A federal judge in Southern California has declared the U.S. military's ban on openly gay service members unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips has granted a request for an injunction halting the government's "don't ask, don't tell" policy for gay and lesbian citizens serving in the U. S. military. Philips stated that DADT doesn't support military readiness and in fact has a "direct and deleterious effect" on the armed services as a whole. Government attorneys from the Department of Justice argued that Philips, a Federal judge, lacks authority to issue an injunction. They will be able to appeal the Judge's decision. The injunction was requested by the Log Cabin Republicans.

The initial suit was brought by the Log Cabin Republicans in October 2004. The Log Cabin Republicans describe their misson as "to work within the Republican Party to advocate equal rights for all Americans, including gays and lesbians." Their case went to trial in July 2010 before the United States District Court of the Central District of California and was decided today by Judge Virginia A. Phillips. Judge Phillips has not yet issued the injunction, but says she expects to file it in the next day or two. As of this evening, neither President Obama nor the Justice Department has commented on Judge Phillips' ruling. There has been some speculation that, as with the California Prop 8 ruling by Judge Walker, the Justice department is going to wait for right-wing groups to oppose the ruling. It is telling that, despite Obama's avowed support for the rights of gays and lesbians, he has encouraged the Justice department to support DADT at every opportunity.

You can read about the decision here.