From: The White House <[email-masked]>

THE WHITE HOUSE

                    Office of the Press Secretary

________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                           January 29, 1993     

                  PRESS CONFERENCE BY THE PRESIDENT

                          The Briefing Room

1:44 P.M. EST
             
             THE PRESIDENT:  Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. 
I'm sorry, we had a last-minute delay occasioned by another issue,
not this one. 
             
             The debate over whether to lift the ban on homosexuals
in the military has, to put it mildly, sparked a great deal of
interest over the last few days.
             
             Today, as you know, I have reached an agreement, at
least with Senator Nunn and Senator Mitchell, about how we will
proceed in the next few days.  But first I would like to explain what
I believe about this issue and why, and what I have decided to do
after a long conversation, and a very good one, with the Joint Chiefs
of Staff and discussions with several members of Congress.
             
             The issue is not whether there should be homosexuals in
the military.  Everyone concedes that there are.  The issue is
whether men and women, who can and have served with real distinction,
should be excluded from military service solely on the basis of their
status.  And I believe they should not.
             
             The principle on which I base this position is this:  I
believe that American citizens who want to serve their country should
be able to do so unless their conduct disqualifies them from doing
so.  Military life is fundamentally different from civilian society,
yet necessarily has a different and stricter code of conduct, even a
different code of justice.  Nonetheless, individuals who are prepared
to accept all necessary restrictions on their behavior, many of which
would be intolerable in civilian society, should be able to serve
their country honorably and well.
             
             I have asked the Secretary of Defense to submit by July
the 15th a draft executive order after full consultation with
military and congressional leaders and concerned individuals outside
of the government, which would end the present policy solely on the
basis of -- excuse me -- of the exclusion from military service
solely on the basis of sexual orientation, and at the same time,
establish rigorous standards regarding sexual conduct to be applied
to all military personnel.
             
             This draft order will be accompanied by a study
conducted during the next six months on the real, practical problems
that would be involved in this revision of policy, so that we will
have a practical, realistic approach consistent with the high
standards of combat effectiveness and unit cohesion that our Armed
Services must maintain.
             
             I agree with the Joint Chiefs that the highest standards
of conduct must be required.  The change cannot and should not be
accomplished overnight.  It does require extensive consultation with
the Joint Chiefs, experts in the Congress and in the legal community,
joined by my administration and others.
               
             We've consulted closely to date, and will do so in the
future.  During that process interim measures will be placed into
effect which, I hope, again, sharpen the focus of this debate.  The
Joint Chiefs of Staff have agreed to remove the question regarding
one's sexual orientation from future versions of the enlistment
application, and it will not be asked in the interim.
             
             We also all agree that a very high standard of conduct
can and must be applied.  So the single area of disagreement is this: 
Should someone be able to serve their country in uniform if they say
they are homosexuals, but they do nothing which violates the code of
conduct or undermines unit cohesion or morale, apart from that
statement.
             
             That is what all the furor of the last few days has been
about.  And the practical and not insignificant issues raised by that
issue are what will be studied in the next six months.  
             
             Through this period ending July 15th, the Department of
Justice will seek continuances in pending court cases involving
reinstatement.  And administrative separation under current
Department of Defense policies based on status alone, will be stayed
pending completion of this review.  The final discharge in cases
based only on status will be suspended until the President has an
opportunity to review and act upon the final recommendations of the
Secretary of Defense with respect to the current policy.
             
             In the meantime, a member whose discharge has been
suspended by the Attorney General will be separated from active duty
and placed in standby reserve until the final report of the Secretary
of Defense and the final action of the President.  
             
             This is the agreement that I have reached with Senator
Nunn and Senator this is the agreement that I have reached with
Senator Nunn and Senator Mitchell.  
             
             During this review process, I will work with the
Congress.  And I believe the compromise announced today by the
senators and by me shows that we can work together to end the
gridlock that has plagued our city for too long.
             
             This compromise is not everything I would have hoped for
or everything that I have stood for, but it is plainly a substantial
step in the right direction.  And it will allow us to move forward on
other terribly important issues affecting far more Americans.  
             
             My administration came to this city with a mission to
bring critical issues of reform and renewal and economic
revitalization to the public debate -- issues that are central to the
lives of all Americans.  We are working on an economic reform agenda
that will begin with an address to the joint session of Congress on
February 17th.  In the coming months the White House Task Force on
Health Care, chaired by the First Lady, will complete work on a
comprehensive health care reform proposal to be submitted to Congress
within 100 days of the commencement of this administration.
             
             We will be designing a system of national service to
begin a season of service in which our nation's unmet needs are
addressed, and we provide more young people the opportunity to go to
college.  We will be proposing comprehensive welfare reform
legislation and other important initiatives.  
             
             I applaud the work that has been done in the last two or
three days by Senator Nunn, Senator Mitchell and others to enable us
to move forward on a principle that is important to me without
shutting the government down and running the risk of not even
addressing the family and medical leave issue, which is so important
to America's families before Congress goes into its recess.
             
             I am looking forward to getting on with this issue over
the next six months and with these other issues which were so central
to the campaign, and far more importantly, are so important to the
lives of all the American people.
             
             Q    Mr. President, yesterday a federal court in
California said that the military ban on homosexuals was
unconstitutional.  Will you direct the Navy and the Justice
Department not to appeal that decision?  And how does that ruling
strengthen your hand in this case?
             
             THE PRESIDENT:  Well, it makes one point.  I think it
strengthens my hand, if you will, in two ways.  One, I agree with the
principle embodied in the case.  As I understand it -- I have not
read the opinion -- but as I understand it, the opinion draws the
distinction that I seek to draw between conduct and status.  And,
secondly, it makes the practical point I have been making all along,
which is that there is a not insignificant chance that this matter
would ultimately be resolved in the courts in a way that would open
admission into the military without the opportunity to deal with this
whole range of practical issues, which every one who has ever thought
about it or talked it through concedes are there. 
             
             So I think it can -- it strengthens my hand on the
principle as well as on the process.  
             
             Q    Mr. President, there's a glass water there, by the
way, while I ask the question.  Do you think, since you promised
during the campaign -- your literature put out a very clear
statement:  lift the ban on homosexuals in the military immediately
-- do you think you didn't think through these practical problems? 
What have you learned from this experience in dealing with powerful
members of the Senate and the Joint Chiefs?  And how much of a
problem is this for you, to accept a compromise which doesn't meet
your real goals?
             
             THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I haven't given up on my real
goals.  I think this is a dramatic step forward.  Normally, in the
history of civil rights and advancements, presidents have not
necessarily been in the forefront in the beginning.  So I think the
fact that we actually have the Joint Chiefs of Staff agreeing that
it's time to take this question off the enlistment form, that there
ought to be a serious examination of how this would be done, even
though they haven't agreed that it should be done; that the Senate,
if they vote for the motion advocated by Senators Nunn and Mitchell,
will agree; senators who don't agree that the policy should be
changed are agreeing that we ought to have a chance to work through
this for six months, and persuade them of that, I think, is very,
very significant.
                  
             Now, I would remind you that any President's executive
order can be overturned by an act of Congress.  The President can
then veto the act of Congress and try to have his veto sustained if
the act stands on its own as a simple issue that could always be
vetoed.  But I always knew that there was a chance that Congress
would disagree with my position.  I can only tell you that I still
think I'm right; I feel comfortable about the way we have done this;
and I'm going to maintain the commitment that I have.
             
             Q    But do you think that you hadn't examined the
practical problems --
             
             Q    Sir, I just wonder, do you think in retrospect that
-- obviously, you didn't intend the first week -- I'm sorry, you want
to --
             
             THE PRESIDENT:  No, I had always planned -- I had always
planned to allow some period of time during which policies would be
developed to deal with what I think are the significant practical
problems.  This, in effect, may reverse the process over what I
intended to do, but there has to be a time in which these issues,
these practical issues are developed and policies are developed to
deal with them.
             
             Q    Obviously, you didn't intend the first week of your
administration, given your promise to have the laser focus on the
economy, to be seen around the country as military gay rights week. 
I wonder if in retrospect you think you could have done things
differently to have avoided that happening?
             
             THE PRESIDENT:  I don't know how I could have done that. 
The Joint Chiefs asked for a meeting about a number of issues, in
which this was only one.  We spent a lot of time talking about other
things.  This issue was not put forward in this context by me, it was
put forward by those in the United States Senate who sought to make
it an issue early on.  And I don't know how I could have stopped them
from doing that.
             
             Q    You don't think that in making the promise and then
in promising to follow through on it early that you might have given
rise to this, do you sir?
             
             THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I think it was pretty clear to me
that we were talking about some sort of six-month process, days and
days ago, and the people who wanted it debated now were not deterred
by that and probably won't -- a lot of them won't be deterred by the
agreement announced today.  I think that we must -- they have the
perfect right to do this.  But the timing of this whole issue was
clearly forced by the people in the Senate who were opposed to any
change of the policy no matter what the facts are.  And I think that
was their right to do, but they control the timing of this, not me.
             
             Q    Two questions.  First of all, just to make sure
that we're clear on this:  July 15th this happens, period, regardless
of what comes out at these hearings, is that correct?  The ban will
be issued -- or will be lifted, rather.
             
             THE PRESIDENT:  That is my position.  My position is
that I still embrace the principle and I think it should be done. 
The position of those who are opposed to me is that they think that
the problems will be so overwhelming everybody with good sense will
change their position.  I don't expect to do that.
             
             Q    So you definitely expect to do it.  And secondly --
             
             THE PRESIDENT:  I don't expect to change my position,
no.
             
             Q    What do you think is going to happen in the
military?  There have been all sorts of dire predictions of violence,
of mass comings out, whatever.  What do you think the impact of this
is going to be, practically?
             
             THE PRESIDENT:  For one thing, I think if the -- if you
look at the last 10 years of experience here, according to the
reports we have, this country spent $500 million in tax dollars to
separate something under 16,500 homosexuals from the service in the
face of -- and has dealt with complaints, at least, of sexual abuse
-- heterosexual abuse -- largely against women -- far greater
volumes.  But during this period, we have plainly had the best
educated, best trained, most cohesive military force in the history
of the United States.  And everybody -- ask anybody -- and the Joint
Chiefs will tell you that.  
             
             They agreed that we should stop asking the question. 
This single thing that is dividing people on this debate -- I want to
make it very clear what this -- this is a very narrow issue.  It is
whether a person, in the absence of any other disqualifying conduct,
can simply say that he or she is homosexual and stay in the service. 
I do not expect that to spark this kind of problem.  And I certainly
think in the next six months, as people start to work it through and
talk it through, a lot of legitimate, practical issues will be raised
and dealt with in a more rational environment that is less charged. 
That is certainly what I hope will happen.  Thank you.
             
             Q    Want to tell us what the other problem was you were
working on, Mr. President -- on the Middle East, sir?
             
             THE PRESIDENT: No, tomorrow or the next day.

                                 END                    1:58 P.M. EST