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Clinton Reaffirms Campaign Promise To End Military’s Ban on Gays

By Kathryn Angel, Washington Herald

LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS, November 12, 1992—In his first major policy address to the nation since his election last week, President-elect Bill Clinton today reiterated his campaign promise to issue an executive order overturning Department of Defense Directive 1332.14, which bans homosexuals from the military. Directive 1332.14 states:

Homosexuality is incompatible with military service. The presence in the military environment of persons who engage in homosexual conduct or who, by their statements, demonstrate a propensity to engage in homosexual conduct, seriously impairs the accomplishment of the military mission. The presence of such members adversely affects the ability of the armed forces to maintain discipline, good order, and morale; to foster mutual trust and confidence among service members; to ensure the integrity of the system of rank and command; to facilitate assignment and worldwide deployment of service members who frequently must live and work in close conditions affording minimal privacy; to recruit and retain members of the armed forces; to maintain the public acceptability of military service; and to prevent breaches of security.

Governor Clinton delivered a Veterans Day speech today and afterwards told reporters he has no intention of backing away from his controversial pledge to allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. He plans to issue the executive order as soon as he takes office January 20.

Already there are grumblings among the military’s leadership, Republicans and even some Democrats that the president-elect is “challenging the military’s most entrenched traditions,” although no one seems to know precisely what those traditions are. Ironically, when Winston Churchill was accused of threatening the British Navy’s traditions during World War I, he is widely reported to have said, “And what are those traditions, save rum, sodomy and the lash?”