Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 10, 1993 TAG: 9309100134
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Boston Globe
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
An amendment proposed by Sen. Barbara Boxer, a Democrat from California, which would have given the president the final say in policy on gays in the military, was defeated as expected by a vote of 63-33. Key Democratic leaders voted against Boxer's proposal.
Virginia's senators split on the issue, with Democrat Charles Robb voting for the Boxer amendment, Republican John Warner voting against.
Thursday night, White House spokeswoman DeeDee Myers said the action was not a defeat for Clinton. "It just puts back into play legislation we said we could live with," she said, signaling that the White House has no appetite for pursuing the issue.
The outcome means that a more rigorous version of what has been dubbed the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, announced by Clinton and endorsed by the Pentagon earlier this summer, will be incorporated into the Senate's $261 billion Defense authorization bill.
A painfully wrought compromise reached in July between the White House and conservative supporters of the ban stipulated that gays and lesbians would no longer be asked if they were homosexual, but enjoined gays not to reveal their sexuality.
Whereas Clinton's policy said sexual orientation was no bar to military service, the legislation makes no mention of orientation but says "persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline" in the military.
by CNB