SEPARATE MILITARY BRANCHES FOR GAYS?

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

DATE: FRIDAY, February 26, 1993                   TAG: 9303010238
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CHRISTINE SPENIK
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
SEPARATE MILITARY BRANCHES FOR GAYS?
A DISTURBING event happened that should outrage the American people. President Clinton had a meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff concerning lifting the ban on homosexuals in the military. However, before the meeting took place, he told the press that it did not matter what the Joint Chiefs of Staff said because he had already made up his mind. Clinton and many of his closest advisers have never served in the military. In other words, the very concept of military service is now completely foreign to some of our most important political leaders.
How can he make a decision such as this without listening to the Joint Chiefs of Staff who have made the military their lives? How can he ignore Congress that has been put into office by the American voters to represent our views? Why is Clinton pushing this issue so hard? Just how much money did the homosexual community contribute to his campaign?
American voters, it is time that we stood up for our beliefs. Many people ask me what can one person do. There have been many elections won by less than 10 votes. Call your congressman and senators and let them know how you feel on this issue.
My with personal thoughts on how this would affect our military:

During peacetime (or wartime), a military member who may have moral convictions against this lifestyle could be forced to share living facilities with homosexuals. Housing for enlisted singles is very small with many shared facilities. (Bathrooms usually have at least four individuals.) There are not enough facilities to house separately heterosexual women, heterosexual men, gay women and gay men. And even if there were, wouldn't separate facilities propagate the problem of lack of acceptance by other military members?

This is the first step toward the federal government legitimizing same-sex marriages.

The purpose of the military is not for social experimentation. Military members as a whole do not view homosexuality as an appropriate lifestyle. Yet they have not been consulted. Furthermore, the purpose of the military is to provide for the defense of our nation and its interests, period! Service in the military is not a right but a privilege.

How will this effect our wartime readiness? The Cold War is over. However, in the last two years we have had to deploy troops. Should we jeopardize readiness to accommodate a minority special-interest group?

The military has sodomy laws that would have to be changed to accommodate homosexual activity. Many other discipline questions need to be asked.
Clinton says that he is going to wait for six months to lift the ban completely. On Jan. 29, 1992, a senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Clinton was open to the idea of barring homosexuals from combat, sea duty and other close quarters if senior Pentagon officials felt that was necessary to remain military effectiveness. Homosexuals may serve but cannot serve in combat? The purpose of the military is the defense of the nation and its interest. Are we going to create a second branch of military service with a different objective? How fair is this to the men and women who are currently serving in the military, not to mention the men and women who gave their lives for this country? That would mean that the homosexuals would be getting all the benefits of military service without taking any risks.
An important issue is that the homosexual community says that this is a case of discrimination, not unlike the exclusion of blacks from the military in 1947. However, this is an entirely different case. This ban is not based on a physical characteristic such as race but on a lifestyle choice. Should we all have to accept this choice? No!
The question that the American public needs to ask is: Do we accept homosexuality as an appropriate lifestyle? The objective of the homosexual community is not just to get into the military but to get acceptance from the American public. Are you ready for that? I, for one, am not!

Christine Spenik of Buena Vista is a former accountant.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB