For Immediate Release

Contact: GLAAD/USA Spokespersons
         Lee Werbel, GLLAD/LA 213-463-3632
         Ellen Carton, GLLAD/NY 212-807-1700

Los Angeles, CA, July 19, 1993--The United Chapters of the Gay & Lesbian
Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD/USA) condemn the Clinton 
Administration's recommendation  to continue discrimination
against lesbians and gay men in the Armed Services.  The proposed
labeling of homosexuality as "incompatible with military service"
will allow the military a continued legal basis by which lesbian
and gay people may be arbitrarily discharged.  Such a declaration
contradicts the Department of Defense's own statements and studies
of the question, which hav consistently cited the able service
of lesbian and gay people.

A majority of Americans support lifting the ban.  The will of the
people has been overruled by politicians advancing their own
agendas.  The President's capitulation to the advocates
of bigotry is indefensible.  This policy is old discrimination
in a new package.  The lesbian and gay communities will continue
to fight for equality of every level, in the courts, the legislature,
and the streets.

The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy mandates discrimination by
enforcing a double standard of conduct, placing particular limits
of freedom of speech by lesbian and gay personnel.  The policy
includes expulsion of discovered lesbian and gay service people. 
The policy fails to address the issue of sexual harassment
perpetrated by heterosexuals, of which the Tailhook
scandal is an example.

The President has again shown his unwillingness to stand up for
what's right and make a case to Congress.

The notion that the Department of Defense can pretend that
there are no lesbians or gays in their ranks simply by
requiring  those people to lie is nonsense; that they
would seriously advocate such convoluted dishonesty reveals
a shocking lack of basic values and even rationality in the
Department leadership.  Military spokespersons have
repeatedly argued, in defense of discrimination, that
their leadership does not have sufficient control over its
troops to expect them to work together professionally;
the Department of Defense will never regain its credibility
with such bizarre and unprincipled policies.

The Department of Defense has invested whatever authority
it does have in the promotion rather than the correction
of prejudice, and it is lesbian and gay service people who will
certainly continue to suffer.  GLAAD calls upon the media to report
the contradictions and consequences of the proposed policy.

GLAAD/USA is a non-profit organization with chapters in seven cities
which combats written, oral and visual defamation of lesbian women
and gay men, and works as a resource for media professionals and
others seeking to use accurate and inclusive images of gay people.
                    ###


^^^^^^^^^^^
"Ginger Rogers did everythng Fred Astaire did.  She just
 did it backwards and in high heels." 
 Variously attributed to Faith Whittlesey, Linda Ellerbee, and Ann
Richards, 1980
-----email sig of Jessea NR Greenman, crsdept@nature.berkeley.edu