For Immediate Release                   
March 10, 1993

NATIONAL COALITION, VETS BEGIN BUS TRIP TO END MILITARY BAN ON GAYS

        "Tour of Duty" Bus Trip Brings Message to Nation:
                Stop Basing Policy on Prejudice

Washington, DC -- Ending the unjust and discriminatory ban on gay men,
lesbians, and bisexuals in the military is the focus of a six-week,
nationwide bus tour that will begin Sunday, March 14 in Minneapolis and
cover 32 cities in 24 states.

The "Tour of Duty" bus trip is being organized by the Campaign for
Military Service, a coalition of civil and human rights groups 
opposed to the ban, with the goal of holding the U.S. armed services
to the same anti-discrimination standard that applies to all other
branches of government.

Several gay and lesbian veterans will be making the tour, and will be
joined alnog the way by supporters and local veterans -- gay, lesbian
and heterosexual -- who favor ending the ban.  The tour will include 
rallies, news conferences, local media appearances, and visits to 
district offices of memebrs of congress.

"Our bus tour will drive home the key issue: the military ban on 
gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals mocks the very ideals every 
American soldier is asked to preserve and protect," said
Thomas B. Stoddard, coordinator of the Campaign for Military Service.
"Our tour will show the faces and stories of some of the hundreds
of thousands of gay men and lesbians who have served honorably 
and died for their country over the years."

Added Stoddard: "The United States military should rise above prejudice,
not stoop to it.  Gay and lesbian soldiers ask only to be judged by
the same standards that apply to all other servicemembers.  
Outrageously and unacceptably, it is their identity, not their 
conduct, that is held against them.  Our goal is to change that."

Approximately 1,400 gay, lesbian, and bisexual servicemembers are
drummed out of the armed forces each year.  According to the
General Accounting Office, U.S. taxpayers paid nearly $500 million
from 1980 to 1990 to discharge and replace these men and women.

President Clinton announced in January he would sign an executive
order ending the ban.  His proposal will be finalized in July,
after congressional hearings.

One of the bus tour participants is Tanya L. Domi, a highly
decorated 15-year U.S. Army veteran who rose in rank from 
Private to Captain before resigning in 1990.

"Nothing in my life has meant more to me than serving my
country," said Domi, who is now Director of the Military
Freedom Initiative of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
"But it became increasingly difficult to dedicate my life to 
an institution -- the military -- that disdained me simply
because of who I am."

She added: "I understand the plight of thousands of soldiers
and military personnel -- good, brave, proud people -- who
wake up every day wondering if their lives and careers will be 
turned upside down by an inquisition into their sexual 
orientation.  That is not fair and not right.  It is for them
that I am speaking out and touring the country."

Also participating in the bus tour is former Army Captain
Alan Stephens.  "How many soldiers work hard, serve with pride,
put their lives on the line, do all that is asked of them and 
more -- and then find out that the armed services no longer 
wants them because of their sexual orientation?" he asked. 
"This is a loss not only for gay and lesbian soldiers.  It is
a loss for their fellow servicemembers who have come to 
depend on their gay and lesbian peers.  And it is a loss for 
the country."

Joining Domi and Stephens full-time on the bus tour are:
Miriam Ben-Shalom, among the first to challenge the ban after
her 1976 discharge from the armed services, and also the only
soldier challenging the military to win actual reinstatement;
Scott D. Boykins, former Seaman Apprentice and Desert Storm
veteran who in 1992 received an Other Than Honorable Discharge;
and Herb King, a World War II veteran who invented the "K" ration,
served in the North African, Corsican, and Italian campaigns,
and suffered a service-connected disability.

Among those joining the tour at various points:  Lieutenant
Tracy Thorne, a Navy bombardier three times ranked at the top
of his flight training class, whose discharge is currently being
processed; and Joseph Steffan, a four-stripe midshipman who was
forced to resign from the Naval Academy and denied his diploma
six weeks before graduation.

"Every servicemember is challenged to be all they they can be,"
said Stoddard.  "All we are asking is for the military to let 
gay and lesbian soldiers be who they are -- so that they can
continue to serve their country."

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