Military Gay Policy Defended
W A S H I N G T O N, July 21 -- The military’s much-criticized policy onhomosexuals in uniform is working, but training must be improved toeliminate anti-gay behavior like the abuse that led to a soldier’smurder in Kentucky last year, the Defense Department said today.
“We think we’ve got it right this time,” Undersecretary ofDefense Bernard Rostker said at a news conference to publicize anew departmental program to re-emphasize in training that suchbehavior is unacceptable.
Rostker said he disagreed with President Clinton’s statementlast year, after the beating death of Pfc. Barry Winchell by afellow soldier at Fort Campbell, Ky., that implementation of hispolicy on gays was “out of whack.”
“I don’t agree with that characterization. I think the policyis working reasonably well to provide a degree of safety” for gaysin uniform, Rostker said. “The days of witch hunts, the days ofstakeouts, are really gone.”
‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Not Enough’Even so, Rostker said, more needs to be done to ensure thateveryone in the military understands the policy.
The Clinton administration’s policy on gays in the military isderived from a law passed in 1993 after Clinton failed to persuadeCongress and the Pentagon to allow gays to serve openly. Thepolicy, known as “don’t ask, don’t tell,” holds that gays canserve in uniform so long as they don’t reveal their sexualorientation. One problem, however, has been unwarrantedinvestigations of people suspected of being homosexual. There alsois a fear among discreetly gay service members that if theycomplain about harassment, they will be discharged.
Today’s announced plan to eliminate anti-gay behavior wascreated by a panel of civilian and military officials led by CarolDiBattiste, the undersecretary of the Air Force. It was in responseto a Pentagon inspector general’s report in March that foundanti-gay behavior was commonplace in the military.
Related Stories
ABC News Live