>From the Washington Blade without permission.

Senate OKs policy on Gays in military.

by Lou Chibbaro Jr.

The Senate yesterday voted 63 to 33 to put into law a policy on Gays in the
military that was crafted by Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) and which Gay activists say
is more restrictive on Gay service members than the "don't ask, don't tell"
policy proposed by President Clinton.

The House of Representatives is expected to adopt an identical "codification"
of the Gays in the military policy next week.

The expected adoption by Congress of a codified policy represents a lopsided
defeat for the nation's Gay civil rights leaders, who voiced strong opposition
to legislating a policy that allows Gays to remain in the military only if they
keep their sexual orientation a secret.

The Senate approved Nunn's version of the policy by defeating an amendment
introduced by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) which sought to remove Nunn's
proposal from a fiscal year 1994 defense authorization bill. The Senate Armed
Services Commit- tee added the Nunn measure to the bill in July after Nunn and
several Republican senators said Clinton's needed "clarification."

Yesterday's vote followed an emotional debate in which Boxer and nine other
Democratic senators argued that Nunn's proposal would legislate a personnel
policy that discriminates against Gays.

"This policy is based on discrimination," Boxer told her Senate colleagues.
"Let us not codify what Coretta Scott King has called 'this un-American ban.'"

Senators supporting Boxer's amendment, including Sen. Charles Robb (D-Va.),
also argued that by codifying the policy, Congress would be micro-managing a
detailed personnel matter that should be left to the president, the Secretary
of Defense, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Nunn said his proposal, as approved by the Armed Services Committee, was
"consistent" with Clinton's policy and that the Constitution gives Congress
authority to legislate military policy. "The country expects us to take
responsibility on this important matter," he said, "and not leave this solely
to the president."

While the Clinton policy the military to stop asking recruits to disclose thier
sexual orientation, the Nunn version allows the Secretary of Defense to
reinstate such questioning when "necessary." The Clinton policy eliminated a
sentence in the previous policy, considered abhorrent by Gay service members,
that declares homosexuality "incompatible with the military." Nunn's version
adds a sentence calling homosexuality an "unacceptable risk to unit cohesion
and order."

The Clinton policy stated that the Uniform Code of Military Justice -- a
military statute which, among other things, outlaws consensual sodomy for Gays
and straights - should be enforced equally among heterosexual and homo- sexual
service members. Nunn's version omits that language.

While Clinton's policy stated that prohibitions against homosexual conduct "has
been a long-standing policy," Nunn's version declares such prohibitions to be
"a long-standing element of military law that continues to be necessary in the
unique circumstances of military service."

Nunn told his colleagues at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in July
that this latter "clarification" would help the military defend itself against
lawsuits by Gay service members seeking a full lifting of the ban.

Maryland Sens. Barbara Mikulski and Paul Sarbanes, both Democrats, voted for
the Boxer amendment. Virginia's senators split their votes, with Robb, a
Democrat, voting for the amendment and Sen. John Warner (R) voting against it.

Thirty Democrats voted for Boxer's measure, while 25 Democrats voted against
it. Only three Republicans voted for the Boxer amendment, while 38 Republicans
voted against it. Four senators were absent and did not vote. Among the
Republicans voting for it was Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (R-N.Y.). Among the
Democrats voting against it were Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell and
Sen. Harris Wofford, both of whom have supported Gay issues in the past.


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