POWELL AFFIRMS MILITARY BAN ON HOMOSEXUALS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 6, 1992                   TAG: 9202060120
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short
POWELL AFFIRMS MILITARY BAN ON HOMOSEXUALS
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday that the military maintains its ban on homosexuals due to potential problems of discipline and morale.
Gen. Colin Powell told the House Budget Committee he agrees with Defense Secretary Dick Cheney's view that the ban is not justified by the department's one-time contention that homosexuals pose a greater security risk.
Rather, Powell said that homosexual behavior "is inconsistent with maintaining good order and discipline."
"It's difficult in a military setting where there is no privacy . . . to introduce a group of individuals - proud, brave, loyal good Americans, but who favor a homosexual lifestyle - and put them in with heterosexuals who would prefer not to have somebody of the same sex find them sexually attractive," Powell said.
The chairman noted that uniformed men and women must live and work in close quarters.
All branches of the military ban homosexuals.
- Associated Press

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB