I saw this in one of the gay papers last week, and it's on
the front page of The New York Times this morning (5/14),
so it must be true :-)

GOVERNMENT AGENCY FERRETED OUT NAMES OF ITS GAY WORKERS
by Warren E. Leary (special to The New York Times)

Washington, May 13 -- A gay employee of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency says he was pressured last year to provide
a list of other homosexual workers to managers and security
personnel, who maintained that they needed the information to
help identify potential security risks at the agency.

The employee, Jerald E. Johnson, a 32-year-old management
analyst, said aganecy officials held up clearance for him to
participate in an international project until he identified
agency workers he knew or were rumored to be homosexual, an
action he says he now regrets.

In a statement today, the agency said that the list remained
"in an envelope locked in a vault."

DISCRIMINATION DENIED

Mr. Johnson said he identified eight agency employees last
November after resisting the request for months, when he was
assured it would be held in confidence by a senior manager.

In its statement today, the agency admitted that it sought the
identities of gay employees, but denied that it had violated
any laws.  The agency said that it was interested only in the
performance of its employees, not their sexual orientation, and
that homosexuals could hold senior positions and gain security
clearance.

In the statement, Wallace E. Stickney, director of the agency,
defended what security officials did in this case.  He said the
officials became concerned about the possibility of security
risks among covert homosexuals in the agency while interviewing
Mr. Johnson for a security clearance.  Mr. Johnson had been
candid about his own sexuality.

Mr. Stickney said that Mr. Johnson "claimed that other FEMA
employees holding security clearances were homosexual."

"FEMA security officials were concerned whether any employees
concealed their sexual preference and were vulnerable to
coercion," he said.  The agency, which plans how the Government
might operate in wartime, did not identify who might try to
coerce agency employees.

CHANGING ATTITUDE

In previous years, Pentagon officials and leaders of the nation's
security agencies have contended that homosexuals had to be
barred from sensitive jobs because they might be targets of
blackmail by foreign governments.  But recently the Government
has mainatained that it is less concerned with a person's
homosexuality.

In fact, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney has in recent years stated
that there was no reason to believe homosexuals were a greater
security risk than anyone else.

Nonetheless, the Pentagon says homosexuality is not compatible
with uniformed military service and is a cause for discharge.

LEGAL QUESTIONS

Legal experts and specialists in gay rights said that seeking to
identify homosexuals in the workplace does not technically
violate Federal civil rights laws, which apply to Federal
workers and cover race, gender and religion not sexual
orientation.  But asking for the list could be a violation of the
Federal Privacy Act and the constitutional right of freedom of
association, they said.

Mr. Johnson first disclosed the circumstances involving the list
two weeks ago at a hearing of a House subcommittee while he was
testifying on another matter related to his work.  When asked on
what occasions he had met with the head of the agency and what
was discussed, the analyst talked about his case.

The testimony was first reported in gay publications and last week
in the Dallas Morning News.

Mr. Johnson said the list was requested by John R. Lilley 2d, the
director of security, and was discussed in meetings he had with
Mr. Stickney and Thomas R. McQuillan, the agency executive
director.  None of the agency officials responded to repeated
requests for comment today.  But the agency spokesman, Anthony
Venti, released the statement in which Mr. Stickney said FEMA did
not discriminate against homosexuals and violated no law in
asking for the list of gay employees.

DEFENSE DEPARTMENT RULES

FEMA is the agency that coordinates the government's response to
natural disasters and war, including civil defense and the
relocation of government officials and functions in emergencies.
The agency is covered by Defense Department security regulations
because of these duties.

Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, said he
and other lawmakers are appalled by the FEMA incident, and said
he would hold a hearing on the case next week.

"This is the silliest thing I've heard of from a Federal agency
in a long time," said Mr. Frank, who is gay and is chairman of
the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Administrative
Law and Governmental Relations, which will hold the hearing.
"It's an enormous invasion of privacy and I want that list torn
up."

Mr. Johnson said he was first asked for a list of gays at FEMA
after he applied for a "top secret" classification.  While being
questioned by security officials, Mr. Johnson said he made the
"innocent statement" that sexual preference should not be a
consideration and that he knew of other government workers who
were gay and did excellent jobs.  At that point, he said, the
security people asked for names of homosexuals he knew and he
refused.

Mr. Johnson said he withdrew his request for the secret
classification before it could be denied by security officials so
it would not appear on his employment records.  His auditing work
at the agency does not involve access to security information or
secrets, and the secret clearance was not necessary for it, he
said, but he had applied because it might have been useful for
other assignments in the agency.

Last fall, Mr. Johnson, formerly an employee of the National
Science Foundation who has degrees in zoology and engineering
management, was asked to be part of a cooperative exchange program
in Poland.  The assignment, not related to his work at the agency,
was to help Poland set up a new system for reviewing scientific
research.  Mr. Johnson asked for, and got, approval from several
supervisors to be assigned to the project, but since he would be
in contact with foreign nationals, he also needed concurrence from
security officials.

In a memo dated Oct. 2, 1991, provided by Mr. Johnson to The New
York Times, the security director, Mr. Lilley, denied approval to
go on the trip, saying the basis for the denial was "Johnson's
refusal to provide testimony concerning a security interest,
during the conduct of an official inquiry by this office."  The
memo said the refusal "demonstrates conduct which adversely
affects an evaluation of his trustworthiness, reliability and
judgment."

Mr. Johnson said he met with Mr. Stickney and Mr. McQuillan and
asked Mr. Stickney to reverse the security decision, which the
director said he would not do.  Mr. Johnson said an intermediary
sent by Mr. McQuillan told him that he could turn the list over
to Mr. McQuillan, who would hold it in confidence, an offer Mr.
McQuillan has denied making.

"After that, I had a choice to make -- either to provide the list
and go to Poland, or go back to being a regular employee and letting
them win in a sense," Mr. Johnson said in an interview.  "I decided
to take a gamble and turn over the list to McQuillan, who led me to
believe he'd see the list and not give it to security," he said.  "I
was trying to beat the system and it didn't work."

In a Nov. 26 memorandum complying with the request for the list, Mr.
Johnson wrote: "I am hereby providing you with a list of names of
FEMA employees who I suspect may be homosexual.  However, I must
reiterate that except for the first three names, I do not have any
first-hand knowledge, and it is simply hearsay."

After turning over the list, Mr. Johnson said his clearance from
security suddenly came through and he went to Poland.  Returning
from that assignment, he found out that the security department had
been given the list, he said.

"I've been criticized by some gays for being naive in turning over
the list and I guess they might be right," Mr. Johnson said, "I'm
ashamed of providing the list now."


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rod williams -=- pacific bell -=- san francisco -=- rjwill6@pacbell.com