From: rjwill6@PacBell.COM (Rod Williams)
Newsgroups: soc.motss
Subject: Re: Gays in Military
Date: 27 Jan 93 19:11:37 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Pacific * Bell, San Ramon, California


Two lead, front-page stories today (1/27/93) in The
New York Times about the military ban.  One, a
straight (sorry :-)) news story about Congresscritters
leaping on the bigotry bandwagon with their clueless
and craven rationalizations for doing so (Hi Senators
Dole, Nunn, Gramm and Kassebaum!  Hi Worm Gingrich!),
and a mention of a few surprising supporters of the
President's position (hi Al D'Amato fergawdsakes!  And
maybe Dick Lugar too, though he appears to be impaled
on that fence :-)).

The other story is a more in-depth look at the reasons
being put forward by people in the military for
opposing the lifting of the ban -- all the tired myths
and lies, of course, all the more breathtaking to be
heard from the mouths of short-memoried African Americans
(yes, I mean you Gen. Powell).  The Times reporter, Eric
Schmitt, made it fairly clear where his employer's
sympathies lie...

    The emotional debate was crystallized in the White House
    session on Monday between President Clinton and the Joint
    Chiefs of Staff.  Those six top officers, whose views were
    formed over decades in military services that flatly
    banned homosexuality, may be even more fiercely resistant
    to such a change than some junior officers.

Get this...

    Gen. Carl E. Mundy Jr., the Marine Corps Commandant, is
    said to be particularly concerned that the proud 217-year
    marine tradition would be irreparably damaged by allowing
    gay men and lesbians to serve in uniform.

    Some marines have gone so far as to suggest that the Corps
    be disbanded rather than accept avowed homosexuals.  "It
    is better to wear proudly the uniform of another service
    than to see the Globe and Anchor progressively defamed,"
    Maj. Arthur J. Corbett, a marine officer at the Naval War
    College, wrote in the current issue of The Marine Corps
    Gazette, a monthly journal.

And this...

    "Homosexuals are notoriously promiscuous," said Comdr.
    Craig Quigley, a Navy spokesman, offering no evidence.
    If gays are allowed to declare their sexual orientation
    openly, he continues, heterosexuals who showered with gay
    men would have an "uncomfortable feeling of someone
    watching."

...like we'll achieve what Hitler and the Shores of Tripoli
(hi Dinah!) couldn't... :-)

The story also quoted Thomas B. Stoppard, former executive
director of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund...

    "[T]he prejudices of a majority can undercut the rights of
    a minority...  If you're the military leadership, you can
    either give into the prejudice and coddle the bigots, or
    you address it directly and teach people the mistaken and
    unethical basis on which the prejudice rests."

Prejudice like this...

    Many military personnel have religious or moral objections
    to allowing gays in the armed services.  "The Bible has a
    very clear and specific message towards homosexuals --
    'Those that practice such things are worthy of death,'"
    Sgt. Maj. S. H. Mellinger wrote in the current issue of
    The Marine Corps Gazette.

The report mentions frequent suggestions that military
recruiting will suffer because admitting gays will scare off
prospective recruits or their parents...

    But recruiters say there is little or no evidence to back
    up that claim.  "We don't know what impact if any there'll
    be on recruiting," said Co. John Myers, a spokesman for
    the Army Recruiting Command at Fort Knox, Ky.

    Sgt. First Class Michael L. Boatwright, the head of the
    Army's recruiting station in Panama City, Fla., one of the
    strongest in the Southeast, said: "I don't think it'll
    have an impact at all.  I haven't fielded a single call on
    this issue, and usually recruiting stations are a souding
    board."
-- 
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rod williams -=- pacific bell -=- san ramon, ca -=- rjwill6@pacbell.com
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