JACKSONVILLE, N.C. -- Every Friday and Saturday night, scores of off-duty Marines flock to a Jacksonville bar to shoot a game of pool, cure a bout of loneliness or dance until the wee hours.
By the book, they are risking stiff fines or even jail time, since Camp Lejeune, the largest Marine Corps base on the East Coast, has declared the bar, Friends Lounge, off limits to the installation's 43,000 Marines and sailors. It is a gay bar and conflicts with the military's ban on homosexual behavior.
But for many of the gay Marines in Jacksonville who keep their sexual orientation secret, Friends Lounge is one of the few public places in this conservative military town where homosexuals -- once they are safely past the locked front door and inside -- can temporarily set aside their fears of being discovered and drummed out of the Marine Corps they proudly serve.
"Straight people know this as a place that's off-limits, but for gays it's a safe haven," said Alan D., 23, a lance corporal who, like all the homosexuals on active duty interviewed for this article, spoke only on the condition that his full name not be published.
The bar at Camp Lejeune, and the many others like it, demonstrate that there is a flourishing gay subculture in the military despite the official ban on homosexuals in uniform. It underscores the way the military has already adapted to something its leaders say is impossible even to contemplate.
Senior military leaders loudly protested when President-elect Bill Clinton said he would lift the ban on homosexuals, arguing that it would lead to severe morale problems and weaken combat effectiveness.
They said heterosexual soldiers, sailors and Marines cannot coexist with gay ones.
But at Camp Lejeune and many other military bases, they already coexist. Individual base commanders vary widely in how strictly they enforce the ban on the thousands of gay men and lesbians in the services, particularly when it involves gay bars and organizations that are off base.
The commanders of Camp Lejeune are clearly aware of the bar's existence but have not done anything to shut it down or round up its patrons for years.
"We don't sit and stake out these places and harass people," said Maj. Jay Farrar, a camp spokesman.
This does not mean that being a gay Marine at Camp Lejeune is entirely without risk. Gay Marines must still keep their sexual orientation officially secret, since if they are exposed, they face discharge under the Marine Corps rules.
