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The Pentagon has advised recruiting commands that they can accept openly gay and lesbian recruit candidates, given the recent federal court decision that bars the military from expelling openly gay service members, according to a Pentagon spokeswoman.

The guidance from the Personnel and Readiness office was sent to recruiting commands on Friday, according to spokeswoman Cynthia Smith.

The recruiters were told that if a candidate admits he or she is openly gay, and qualify under normal recruiting guidelines, their application can be processed. Recruiters are not allowed to ask candidates if they are gay as part of the application process.

The notice also reminded recruiters that they have to "manage expectations" of applicants by informing them that a reversal of the court decision might occur, whereby the "don't ask, don't tell" policy could be reinstated, Smith said.

Federal Judge Virginia Phillips in California is expected to decide Tuesday whether she will stay her injunction against "don't ask, don't tell" at the request of the government, which is appealing her ruling.
Video: Pentagon gives OK to gay recruits
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* LGBT Issues
* Don't Ask, Don't Tell
* The Pentagon
* Military and Defense Policy

Phillips, who ruled in September that the policy is unconstitutional, indicated in court on Monday she is unlikely to stay her ruling, in which case the government will ask the appeals court to do so.

Groups representing gays and lesbians have warned against coming out to the military because the policy is still being appealed in courts.

One group, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, sent a statement out Tuesday reiterating the concern.

"During this interim period of uncertainty, service members must not come out and recruits should use caution if choosing to sign up," said SLDN Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis in the statement. "The bottom line: if you come out now, it can be used against you in the future by the Pentagon."

Oct 19 (Reuters) - A federal judge formally refused on Tuesday to let the Pentagon reinstate its ban on openly gay men and women in the U.S. military while it appeals her decision declaring its "don't ask, don't tell" policy unconstitutional.

A day after tentatively siding against the Obama administration, U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips issued a written decision denying a government request to lift her own injunction barring further Pentagon enforcement of the ban.

President Barack Obama has insisted he stands by his 2008 campaign pledge to end "don't ask, don't tell," but his administration had urged the judge to allow more time for a political remedy to the issue rather than a court-imposed one. (Reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Peter Cooney)

'Don't ask, don't tell' back in force after appeals court issues stay

An appeals court decides that 'don't ask, don't tell' can temporarily remain in effect as legal proceedings continue. The Obama administration is appealing a ruling last week that 'don't ask, don't tell' must be abandoned immediately.

Washington

A federal appeals court in California granted a temporary stay on Wednesday, reversing a worldwide injunction against enforcement of the US military’s "don’t ask, don’t tell" policy.

The action means the Pentagon’s ban on service members who are openly homosexual is, once again, in full force.

The policy was thrown into doubt last week when a federal judge in Riverside, Calif., declared the 17-year measure unconstitutional. As the government scrambled to halt the injunction, military recruiters for the first time began to consider openly gay recruits. Those efforts are now on hold.

In granting the stay, the three-judge panel of the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals is allowing government lawyers more time to prepare their argument. The government is seeking a longer-term stay that would hold the injunction in abeyance for the duration of the appeal.

The court set an Oct. 25 deadline for an opposition brief in the case. The gay group Log Cabin Republicans had successfully challenged the don’t ask, don’t tell policy and is opposed to any effort to delay the injunction.

Once the stay issue is resolved, government lawyers will turn to the heart of their appeal, asking the Ninth Circuit panel to reverse the judge’s ruling that the policy is unconstitutional.

The don’t ask, don’t tell policy allows gay and lesbian individuals to serve in the armed forces, but it requires that they keep their sexual orientation private. If disclosed, they would face expulsion from the military.

US District Judge Virginia Phillips ruled that the policy violates the constitutional rights of gay and lesbian service members. Last week, she ordered the military to stop enforcing the policy.

Government lawyers asked the judge to postpone her injunction while they appealed the underlying ruling. The lawyers said the sudden imposition of a worldwide injunction was too disruptive and would undercut morale and military readiness at a time when the US is fighting two wars overseas. Judge Phillips disagreed that it would be disruptive. She refused to issue a stay.

The mounting legal battle is taking place amid the backdrop of a White House administration that favors repeal of the don’t ask, don’t tell policy. But administration officials say they would prefer that the law and policy be changed gradually by Congress, not suddenly by the courts.