Copyright 1993 Phoenix Newspapers, Inc. THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC September 3, 1993 Friday, Final Chaser SECTION: FRONT; Pg. A2 LENGTH: 572 words HEADLINE: FOREIGN SERVICE ENCOURAGES GAYS TO APPLY BYLINE: Hearst Newspapers DATELINE: WASHINGTON KEYWORD: MILITARY FOREIGN HOMOSEXUAL BODY: The State Department has quietly modified its personnel policies, and for the first time, it is actively recruiting gays and lesbians for the elite ranks of the Foreign Service. In contrast to the tortuous and highly publicized effort to ease Pentagon restrictions on gay GIs, Foreign Service Director General Genta Hawkins Holmes has, without formal announcement, changed the department's application forms for the annual Foreign Service test. The form had proclaimed the department's commitment to equal opportunity "for all without regard to political affiliation, race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age or handicapping condition." Holmes revised the anti-discrimination statement in announcing the Nov. 13 exam and the dates when applications for the test must be received. Now the statement includes the words " sexual orientation. " Donna Gigliotti, a Holmes spokeswoman, said the new language reflects a more accurate explanation of an existing policy rather than the enunciation of a new one. "There really isn't anything new," Gigliotti said. "We're just stating something that already existed, putting it into print because we had the impression that there were homosexual people who wanted to apply to the Foreign Service but felt that they should not bother because they would get kicked out when they got to the security-clearance process. "We wanted to make it clear that that is not necessarily the case. Homosexuality itself is not a reason for exclusion." Franklin E. Kameny, a longtime gay activist, said, however, that the change is a new policy that "represents a very welcome and long-overdue 180-degree reversal from the policies" of the past 30 years. David Buss, president of a year-old group called Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies, also hailed the announcement as a breakthrough. "This is really the first public avowal that the State Department has implemented a policy of non-discrimination against gays and lesbians," Buss said. "It will surprise a number of people who have long held the belief that the State Department was as far back in the Dark Ages as any of the national-security agencies." Still, sexual misconduct could cause prospective Foreign Service officers problems in obtaining the required top-secret security clearance. "We do not discriminate based on sexual preference," Gigliotti said, "but sexual behavior may become an issue in the security-clearance process, be it homosexual or heterosexual." State Department policies call for the Bureau of Diplomatic Security to "conduct limited and discreet investigations into substantial allegations of sexual conduct that might have the potential to embarrass the U.S. government, adversely affect the efficiency of the service or render the employee vulnerable to coercion." Andy Laine, a spokesman for the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, said the agency's investigators have conducted 6,240 full-field background checks for security clearances for Foreign Service officers in the past year. Over the past six years, he said, investigators could recall no more than five cases in which a Foreign Service officer was dismissed or an applicant was rejected because of sexual misconduct. The 10,100 members of the Foreign Service work at the State Department in Washington and staff U.S. embassies and consulates around the world.