From: nyt%nyxfer%igc.apc.org@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu (NY Transfer News)
Subject: NEWS:Lesbigay Rights vs. Pentagon/ww
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: The NY Transfer News Service
Resent-From: "Rich Winkel" <MATHRICH@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 22:15:09 GMT



Via The NY Transfer News Service * All the News that Doesn't Fit


LESBIAN, GAY RIGHTS V. THE PENTAGON

The year is almost over. And it may be the last year for the U.S.
military's ban on lesbians and gay men. It's about time.

If Bill Clinton actually lifts the ban, it will be thanks to the
struggle. As with any civil rights gain, this one will have been
won in the streets. It took years of angry protests by the
lesbian and gay movement and allies to reach the point at which
the president-elect feels enough pressure to say he "wants to" do
it.

For the last few years the lesbian and gay movement has aimed
much of its ire at the Pentagon. Student groups around the
country have fought to bar military recruiters from campuses.
Ending the ban has been a demand in many local and national
demonstrations--including the upcoming national march on
Washington next April. Gay groups were active in protesting the
Gulf war, pointing out that soldiers were being sent to die for
Big Oil but would be discharged if they came out of the closet.

Now a federal judge has ordered the Navy to re-enlist an
involuntarily discharged gay man and Clinton has said he "wants
to" end the Pentagon's ban on gays. All in one week. For workers
as a whole and for the lesbian and gay community, which has
fought long and hard for the rights of the tens of thousands of
lesbians and gay men in the military, a victory is at hand.

Of course, the courts had many earlier opportunities, starting
with the case of the late Leonard Matlovich in the mid-1970s. As
for Congress, it has failed to pass a gay rights bill for over a
decade now. And any previous president could have lifted the ban
with the stroke of a pen.

It took until now because the military-industrial complex has
extraordinary power. It stands at the apex of the ruling class.
So it's no coincidence that the Pentagon--the country's biggest
employer--is also the leading stalwart of lesbian and gay
oppression. And while no one should be encouraged to join the
world's most oppressive imperialist military--the U.S. armed
forces--the ban on lesbians and gays is a blatant violation of
the most basic democratic rights. But the military is supposed to
respect these rights.

Harry Truman signed the anti-gay order in 1949 as a Cold War
move, part of the McCarthy era witchhunt that targeted gay people
for hounding and harassment along with communists and
progressives. It stayed in force as part of the ruling class's
war against workers and oppressed people--not for any of the
absurd, phony, homophobic reasons the brass are still mouthing.

Now--thanks both to the brave individuals who came out of the
closet and fought back and the collective power of a
movement--the ban is breathing its last. But this is no time to
relax.

Exactly how Bill Clinton will move remains to be seen. He's
starting to hedge. He's talking about taking his time so he can
placate the generals--along with leaders of his own Democratic
Party like Sen. Sam Nunn who used the CBS television show "Face
the Nation" Nov. 15 to threaten lesbians and gays, saying he
"fears for their lives" if the anti-gay ban is lifted.

Well, it's going to happen--despite the Pentagon. If Clinton
needs some more pushing, we've got the army to do it. In our
army--the peoples army that fights against imperialist wars,
racism, homophobia and sexual harassment, for workers' rights and
jobs--some of the best fighters are lesbians and gay men,
transvestites and transsexuals. And we're not stopping until we
win this and every other battle.


(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted
if source is cited. For more info contact Workers World, 46 W. 21
St., New York, NY 10010; "workers" on PeaceNet; on Internet:
"workers@mcimail.com".)


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