'Don't ask' Navy serviceman reinstated

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LOS ANGELES, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- A U.S. Navy linguist discharged under the now-repealed policy banning gays from serving openly has been sworn back into the Navy, his attorney says.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Jase Daniels, 29, discharged in 2007, will report soon to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., the Los Angeles Times reported.

Discharged after he was featured in a story in the Stars & Stripes newspaper about gay military personnel, Daniels was one of three plaintiffs in a 2010 suit challenging the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

Aubrey Sarvis of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network said Daniels' reinstatement Monday "underscores that all qualified and needed service members are now officially welcomed back into the ranks."

A Hebrew linguist who served a year in Kuwait before being discharged, Daniels will study Farsi, spoken in Iran and Afghanistan, at the Defense Language Institute.