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

DATE: SUNDAY, February 21, 1993                   TAG: 9302220261
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: F-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

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CONCERNS ARE NOT BASED ON FACTS

SEVERAL recent letter writers have expressed their fears about gays in the military. "Fear" is the operative word because their opinions are not supported by fact, logic or experience. Let's separate fact from fear:

AIDS is irrelevant since the services already require service-entry HIV tests and tests every six months thereafter. Those testing positive are discharged.

Germany, Israel, France, Italy, the Netherlands and most other Western nations have permitted gays to serve in the military for years without problems.

Gays openly serve in most of the nation's larger cities' police departments and fire departments.

The "combat" and "morale" arguments are myths because the Pentagon discharges few gays in wartime. Peacetime discharges average 1,500 per year; wartime discharges, 300 per year (Korean and Vietnam wars).

Discharges are not of those gays who are overt but are the result of secret investigations conducted after rumors and tips.

Pentagon and Navy studies have found gays' and lesbians' service records to be as good or better than their straight counterparts.

Discharge papers reflecting "admission of homosexuality" are given to future employers, making employment difficult.

Since 1980, almost 20,000 gays and lesbians have been discharged from the services, at a cost to the taxpayers of more than $600 million. It is time for that poling of fear and bigotry to come to an end. BRYAN WALKER ROANOKE

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