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

DATE: SUNDAY, May 16, 1993                   TAG: 9305170256
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: F-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

GAY BAN

A TOUR of Norfolk Naval Base by members of the Senate Armed Services Committee last week provided worried sailors an opportunity to air their fears about lifting the ban on gays in the military, but it added little to the debate.

The senators saw the close living and working quarters on board warships, and listened to sailors who said that serving beside openly gay shipmates would damage morale, destroy unit cohesion and hurt recruitment and retention rates. This has all been heard before.

Sadly, the committee also heard predictions of injuries and deaths if the ban is lifted - not because the distractions of serving with a homosexual would put others at risk, but because anger toward gays would guarantee "a lot of personal injuries, if not deaths, against gays and lesbians," in the chilling words of clerk Rhonda Moody, who serves aboard the sub tender USS Emory S. Land.

It is hardly surprising that, given the hostility toward gays in the military voiced loudly by their top commanding officers, enlisted personnel would fall in step, their antipathy heightened rather than assuaged by their leaders.

In this, their officers are not serving them well.

Fear and reality are not always the same things. The reality on this issue is that many homosexuals are serving in the military, many are sharing close quarters on board warships, and many are doing outstanding jobs. They are trusted friends and co-workers. Now, though, they have to keep their sexual orientation a secret.

With strict enforcement of the military code of conduct, mere knowledge of a fellow serviceman's sexual preference should present few problems - unless, of course, military leaders continue to nourish the hatred toward this group of people, giving unofficial sanction to actions against them.

It is noteworthy that on the Monday senators were visiting Norfolk to hear dire warnings of the evils that will ensue if homosexuals are given the freedom to be themselves, the Army approved the involuntary, but honorable, discharge of Sgt. Joe Zuniga in San Francisco.

Zuniga, described as a highly decorated military journalist and Gulf War veteran, was the 6th Army's 1992 Soldier of the Year. He also let it be known that he is a homosexual.

An Army spokesman at the San Francisco Presidio said Zuniga had made it clear he would not contest the proceedings against him. "Army regulations are quite clear," Lt. Steven Fredericks explained. "If you say you are a homosexual, you will be discharged."

And Zuniga is ever the good soldier. Shouldn't he have been allowed to remain?

by CNB