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

DATE: MONDAY, July 19, 1993                   TAG: 9307190147
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

NUNN HAS THE FINAL WORD ON GAYS, LAWMAKERS SAY

Congress will back Sen. Sam Nunn's promise to legislate a ban on gays in the military regardless of President Clinton's expected policy changes making it easier for gays to serve, lawmakers said Sunday.

"Whatever Senator Nunn's recommendation is, it's likely to be accepted," Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Nunn, D-Ga., the powerful head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, served notice Friday that he would introduce legislation to ban military service by people with "a propensity to engage in homosexual acts."

Nunn's bill would be a tougher version of Clinton's "don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue" policy.

Rep. Gerry Studds, D-Mass., one of two openly gay congressmen, appearing on "Meet the Press," agreed that if Clinton were to lift the ban, "it is virtually a certainty that the Congress would override that and probably codify the existing policy."

by CNB