Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 30, 1993 TAG: 9304300148
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
"When we allow comparisons of the smaller countries and what their policies are regarding known homosexuals' service to their country, we do a great disservice to our fellow American citizens," Calvin A.H. Waller told the Senate Armed Services Committee during a hearing exploring the role of homosexuals in foreign militaries.
The hearing was organized by Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., who opposes President Clinton's desire to open the military to gay men and women. But it included one witness in favor of lifting the ban, which could be overturned sometime this summer.
Further hearings on the issue are scheduled before House and Senate committees. Meanwhile, the status of gays now in the service remains unclear.
Amid massive gay demonstrations in the capital last weekend, a 1992 soldier of the year, Sgt. Jose Zuniga, disclosed he is a homosexual, leading his superiors to begin discharge proceedings. He is expected to be put on standby reserve until a decision is reached.
The military also is absorbing a major change in its policy toward women this week, now that the Pentagon has announced it will allow women to fly combat aircraft and serve aboard most naval vessels.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., a senior member of the committee who supported allowing women in combat, issued a statement Thursday backing Clinton's lifting the ban on homosexuals in the armed forces.
"Two of our allies - Canada and Australia - with cultures very similar to our own, have lifted their bans on gay men and lesbians in the military within the past year - and they have not faced the problems that many predicted," Kennedy said.
One of three academic authorities testifying agreed with Kennedy. But two others offered more ambiguous conclusions.
Judith Stiehm, a political science professor at Florida International University, noted that in Canada and Australia, the fear that heterosexual officers and enlisted men would resign in droves has not materialized.
"We can take heart that our allies' fears proved unfounded," Stiehm said. "That which was anticipated as a mountain turned out to be molehill."
Stiehm said 12 other countries explicitly ban gays from their militaries.
But Charles Moskos, a Northwestern University sociologist, argued that even countries that permit gay men and women in the military, such as Israel and Germany, often discriminate against them. For example, in France, gays often are exempted from conscription under various pretexts, Moskos said.
"In effect, France has successfully adopted a policy of discretion: from the military side: `Don't ask, don't seek,"' and from the gay side, " `Don't tell, don't flaunt,' " Moskos said.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.