Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 21, 1993 TAG: 9301210264
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From The New York Times and The Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
GAY BAN TO BE LIFTED AS PLEDGED
President Clinton plans to direct Defense Secretary Les Aspin to prepare an executive order that would lift the ban on homosexuals in the military sometime in the next few months, Clinton aides said on Wednesday.In the meantime, the military will be directed less formally to stop asking recruits about their sexual orientation and discharging people from the armed services when they are found to be homosexuals. These are the two points that would be the main practical effect once an executive order is in effect. Clinton is expected to announce his new policy in the next few days.
The two-step process buys the Clinton administration time to consult with senior military leaders on details of the policy, while at the same time fulfilling a campaign pledge Clinton made to repeal the ban with an executive order.
Under intense pressure from the military to back off that commitment, Clinton's aides had been considering a plan to lift the ban without a presidential order. Homosexual-rights advocates vigorously protested, contending that delegating the repeal to the secretary of defense would weaken the symbolic import of the move.
Beyond the reaction of homosexual groups and the military, the issue has attracted attention because of anticipation about how Clinton would meld the many bold promises he made in his campaign and his lifelong tendency to make compromises in the pursuit of consensus.
The new, tougher compromise was worked out by Aspin and his top aides in recent days and approved Sunday night at a meeting between Clinton and his senior national security advisers at Blair House in Washington.
Homosexual rights groups applauded the plan on Wednesday. Two homosexual lawmakers, Rep. Gerry E. Studds and Rep. Barney Frank, both Democrats of Massachusetts, were consulted this week, and approved. Military officials said they were pleased that they would still get to have some say on how the change would occur.
While Clinton delayed that executive order, he acted quickly on two others.
As his first official acts as president, he implemented new ethics rules for his administration and signed a proclamation asking all citizens "to join me in renewing our commitment to the American ideals of fellowship and hope."
The proclamation made Wednesday a "National Day of Fellowship and Hope."
He also signed documents officially nominating 19 Cabinet and six sub-Cabinet officials.
"As I assume the office of president, I stand humbly before God and ask for his guidance and blessings for our great nation," Clinton said in the proclamation. "The obligation of a president is more than the fulfillment of a set of constitutional duties. The president must carry the mantle of hope and optimism in the battle against fear and despair."
Clinton chose to make the ethics guidelines an early order of business to signal his commitment to government and political reform. It was an issue that Clinton wrestled with Ross Perot to capture during the presidential campaign, and one Clinton advisers say he must stress to win over Perot voters.
The guidelines prohibit senior administration officials from lobbying the government in their area of work for five years after leaving their posts, and include a lifetime ban on lobbying for foreign interests.
In the early days of his presidency, as his economic package is retooled and other campaign promises are drafted into legislation, Clinton plans to use executive orders as a way of maintaining a sense of action in the new administration.
Today, he is expected to sign an order creating the National Economic Council. Candidate Clinton promised to coordinate economic policy in a manner mirroring that of the National Security Council.
And on Friday, Clinton plans to mark the 20th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion by signing an order revoking Bush's "gag rule" prohibiting federally funded clinics from offering abortion counseling.
Clinton also vowed during the campaign to reverse Bush's ban on fetal tissue research, a prohibition that is supported by anti-abortion forces. A senior Clinton policy adviser said the president could also do that by executive order, "but the preference is to do so by legislation."
Memo: ***CORRECTION***