
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 17, 1993                   TAG: 9307170207
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

CLINTON RECEPTIVE TO RESTRICTIVE RULES ON GAYS IN MILITARY

President Clinton is poised to accept a restrictive Pentagon plan that demands gays and lesbians in the armed services keep their sexual orientation secret, remain celibate and not so much as hold hands or dance even while off base and out of uniform, senior administration officials said Friday.

Although Clinton promised during the campaign to lift the military's 50-year-old ban on homosexuals, Pentagon officials acknowledge that the plan he is on the verge of adopting preserves the three main features of the current policy:

Military codes outlawing gay and lesbian sex acts will remain on the books.

The premise that open homosexuality is incompatible with military service.

The criteria for discharging gays and lesbians from the service is unchanged.

"If you are a practicing homosexual and you tell someone, you are out," said one senior administration official.

In their one major concession to gays, White House officials promised Friday that investigations against suspected homosexual soldiers would be curtailed.

"It's not just `don't ask, don't tell,' " explained another senior official. "It's `don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue.' "

David Gergen and George Stephanopoulos, the top White House aides dealing with the Pentagon on this issue, briefed reporters Friday about the policy, dubbed "don't ask, don't tell."

Each characterized the president as "generally supportive" of the Pentagon's plan, saying it awaited only final approval by Justice Department lawyers who have expressed reservations this week about the plan's constitutionality.

White House officials said Friday that the plan prescribes new rules for the way investigations against suspected homosexual soldiers would be launched.

A single complaint would not be enough, they said, though two or more might well trigger an investigation. Nor would attendance at a gay church, gay bar or gay rights demonstration automatically prompt an investigation. Moreover, they said that only a commanding officer could initiate an investigation.

"This will eliminate witch hunts," said one senior administration official.

Nevertheless, the policy allows for those in uniform to be drummed out of the service for "homosexual conduct," and it includes speech - declaring one's homosexuality - to be conduct, White House aides said.

In addition, officials said, once it is determined that a person serving in the military is homosexual, the "burden of proof" shifts to them to show they are not "a practicing homosexual" and not a threat to unit cohesion.

by CNB