states he or she is a homosexual is a practicing homosexual, or is at least likely to engage in homosexual acts, is so strained a constitutional argument as to amount to a basic attack on the policy itself." Judge Patricia Wald, writing for the minority, said: The decision conflicted with a holding by another federal appeals court in August 1994 that ordered the reinstatement of Petty Officer Keith Meinhold, who had outed himself on national television. One legal analysis of the case suggested that advocates of LGBT rights needed develop arguments other than the "contortion" of the distinction between status and conduct used by Steffan's attorneys. At the beginning of 1995, Steffan declined to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. Later years Steffan and his fellow students eventually won the lawsuit they had brought to deny military recruiters access to their Connecticut Law School. Under federal government's Solomon Amendment, the state was facing the loss of $70 million in grants and student aid. In October 1997, the Connecticut Legislature voted to allow the recruiters on campus. Steffan said he was not surprised and commented: "As a newly minted realist, I recognize that idealism has a price." Of his long legal battles he said: "It's been very much an ebb and flow of positive and disappointing experiences. I realize now that this is a very long-term battle. Social values do not change rapidly, and political change comes about even more slowly." Steffan is a lawyer in New York City. He donated his papers related to his suit for reinstatement in the Navy to the University of Connecticut Law School archives. See also Sexual orientation and the United States military Notes Sources Randy Shilts, Conduct Unbecoming: Gays & Lesbians in the U.S. Military (Ballantine, 1993) Marc Wolinsky & Kenneth Sherrill, eds., Gays and the Military: Joseph Steffan versus the United States (Princeton University Press, 1993) External links Index to briefs in the case District court ruling, December 9, 1991 Appellate panel ruling, November 16, 1993 Full appellate court ruling, November 22, 1994 Living people 1964 births People from Warren, Minnesota Military personnel from Minnesota American LGBT rights activists LGBT people from Minnesota American military personnel discharged for homosexuality American people of Scandinavian descent United States Naval Academy alumni North Dakota State University alumni University of Connecticut School of Law alumni New York (state) lawyers