NEWS
By David Folkenflik | December 17, 1999
WASHINGTON -- The combustible mix of a high-profile murder and hard-driving electioneering has prompted prominent Democrats to pledge to overturn the ban on gays serving openly in the military.But activists, lawmakers and analysts say the campaign promises -- offered this fall by presidential aspirants Bill Bradley and Al Gore and Senate hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton -- do not reflect the political difficulty of changing what many see as a flawed compromise.The Republican-led Congress shows no interest in changing the policy.
NEWS
By Anna Quindlen | December 6, 1994
KEITH MEINHOLD IS A petty officer in the Navy. He is also gay. Everyone he works with knows he is gay. In fact, millions of people learned it when he appeared two years ago on ABC News, got a simple question and gave a simple answer: "Yes, in fact I am gay."While Americans had been told that the armed forces could not tolerate the open presence of gay men and lesbians, that their safety would be in danger and the esprit de corps imperiled, Keith Meinhold and others like him have gone about their business with little rancor in the ranks.
NEWS
By DANIEL BERGER | January 30, 1993
It was not easy for me as a drafted soldier, long ago, to discern the Army's real policy on homosexuals in the ranks.There were a couple of guys in our outfit who were pretty open about it and not in trouble.Once in company formation, before a cold Berlin dawn when everyone made wisecracks the company sergeant couldn't locate, one called attention to himself. I blurted a rejoinder in some way negative.Afterward, he accused me (the words insensitive or homophobe were not then in the vocabulary)
NEWS
August 9, 1993
Did Army Sgt. Greg Starr tell or didn't he?The case of this Russian language linguist at the National Security Agency headquarters at Fort George G. Meade exemplifies the complications inherent in the military's new "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding gays. "Don't ask, don't tell" provides more protection than the old ban, but Mr. Starr's situation shows that even cautious gays may remain subject to relentless attempts to ferret them out.Mr. Starr was discharged last week for homosexuality, though until that day he never admitted he was gay. He did say he was gay last fall on the "Donohue" show -- but his face, voice and name were disguised.
NEWS
By Ann LoLordo | March 31, 1993
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- The political debate over lifting the ban on gays in the military has very real consequences for Marine Sgt. Justin Elzie.Today -- at Camp Lejeune, southeast of here near North Carolina's coast -- a five-member board of his peers will recommend whether the 30-year-old Marine should be discharged for announcing that he is a homosexual.It is the first step in an administrative process that ultimately may end in Washington, in the hands of President Clinton.The military's decision to pursue the case, despite the national debate that has gone on since Mr. Clinton announced his intention to lift the ban, hasn't kept the trim, mustachioed Marine quiet.
NEWS
By Richard H. P. Sia and Lyle Denniston | December 23, 1993
WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon closed a year of controversy over gays in the military yesterday by issuing a new policy that gives commanders broad discretion to oust or investigate homosexuals in their units.Under the controversial "don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue" policy, which was first announced by President Clinton last July, the only gay men or lesbians who will be allowed to remain in the service are those who can prove they do not engage in homosexual sex and will not.The policy will take effect Feb. 5, replacing a sweeping, 50-year-old ban on gays in the military and a year-old interim policy that was intended to ease that ban."
NEWS
By Ann Lolordo | January 29, 1993
COLUMBUS, GA. -- The joke at the Chester S. Harrison American Legion Post 35 yesterday went like this:"Do you know what the President did this morning?""No, what?""Enlisted men don't have to salute officers anymore -- they just have to blow them kisses."Retired World War II veteran William "Teal" Allen delivers the punch line in a slow Southern drawl to the hoots of his fellow Legionnaires at the bar. And Mr. Allen voted for Bill Clinton.But in this southwest Georgia community, home to more than 47,000 active, reserve and retired military, the buckle of the Bible Belt, the president's proposal to lift the ban on gays in the military amounts to fighting words.
NEWS
August 9, 1993
Did Army Sgt. Greg Starr tell or didn't he?The case of this Russian language linguist at the National Security Agency headquarters at Fort George G. Meade exemplifies the complications inherent in the military's new "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding gays. "Don't ask, don't tell" provides more protection than the old ban, but Mr. Starr's situation shows that even cautious gays may remain subject to relentless attempts to ferret them out.Mr. Starr was discharged last week for homosexuality, though until that day he never admitted he was gay. He did say he was gay last fall on the "Donohue" show -- but his face, voice and name were disguised.
FEATURES
By Jean Marbella | March 17, 1993
Jim Holobaugh has gone from poster boy to . . . poster boy.In 1987, the ROTC cadet was the stuff of a recruiter's dreams. With his straight A's in all his military science classes and a milk-fed, Midwestern sort of handsomeness, he was selected to appear in a national ROTC recruiting ad. Today, as intelligent and presentable as ever, he still seems the perfect spokesman -- this time, though, as an openly gay man fighting the ban on homosexuals in the military.Mr....
NEWS
By Holly Selby | April 20, 1993
Gays, lesbians and bisexuals, and their families, friends and supporters, will be among the thousands of Marylanders expected to participate in Sunday's March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation."