For M. Andrew Woodmansee, the court battle to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell hit close to home. Gay himself, he brought pro bono cases on behalf of four men who’d been discharged under the military’s ban on openly gay troops. Although he never served himself, Woodmansee, head of the litigation group at Morrison & Foerster’s San Diego office, knows the military: His grandfather was killed in World War II; his father served in the Korean War; he has two brothers who served.
“For me, it is extraordinary that men and women want to serve our country and be shot at,” he said. “There’s nothing more fundamental to the system of justice than protecting these people’s constitutional rights. So that, to me, is why I chose to do this, and why I spent so many hours fighting these cases for these individuals.”
