European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 16, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday november 16, 1992 commentary the stars and stripes Page 13anti-Gay War puts Dod on wrong Battlefield after a string of grisly stories about sexual harassment and sexual assaults in the military 1 ran into More than a few people eager to overhaul the entire defense department. With Only the tip of Tongue in Cheek they were ready to ban heterosexual men from the army Navy and air Force. Saner Heads prevailed. So did open minds. Not every naval officer turned into a Tail Hooker at the sight of a woman. In the persian Gulf War Only a handful of men got out of hand. Anyway it was t sexual orientation that was the problem. It was sexual behaviour. All of this brings us to the current question about homosexuals in the military. Over the past week the armed forces have received messages from two branches of government the judiciary and the executive that the Long standing ban against Gay and lesbian soldiers and sailors is coming Down. First a Federal District judge issued a temporary order making the Navy reinstate Keith Meinhold a Sailor discharged last August after revealing be is Gay. The Ellen Goodman _ 8�y in said it was Likely that a trial would find the ban unconstitutional. Then Bill Clinton reaffirmed his Promise to lift the Rule after he takes office. He can Issue an executive order the Way president Truman did when he integrated the army racially in 1948. Clinton Hopes to do so in a Way that will mute the culture Shock though to describe this As culture Shock is a bit like calling a 9.0 earthquake a Little  Are witnessing another confrontation Between the military and the civilian worlds Between the culture of diversity and the culture of uniformity. Uniformity As in uniform. Anyone who has done time in the military can Tell you that the armed forces Are designed to stamp out differences in Boot Camp democracy. It is less interested in preaching individualism than in teaching order. But anyone who has Ever seen one of those world War ii movies a with a Tex a Quot Omalley and a a Brooklyn fighting the nazis a also knows that even in the 1940s, the military was dealing with diversity. In the 1950s, when the South was still segregated the military was newly integrated. And in the 1990s, it has been on the front tines As Well As the rear guard of advancing women. The pressure to accept homosexual soldiers presents another Challenge in this Long line. That does no to make it easy. The traditional hostility to Gays to Gay men at least a comes straight from the playground taunt Quot Sissy Quot prejudice linked Gay men Ana All women in a sisterhood of weakness that disqualified them from fighting a like a  homosexuals were exempt from the draft and if discovered driven out of service. In 10 years More than 15,000 men and women a including top guns and top nurses a have been dismissed. The difference is that today military leaders acknowledge that there Are thousands of homosexuals in the military fighting and leading. The image of Gay men and lesbians As Security risks has been debunked. The last tenuous but tenacious argument left is that removing the ban would somehow give permission for a openly homosexual behaviour. Gay Parade grounds and that it would undermine morale and discipline. In a careful and tempered statement last year Gen. Colin l. Powell put it this Way Quot it is difficult in a military setting where there is no privacy where you done to get a Choice of association where you done to get a Choice of where you live to introduce a group of individuals who Are proud Brave Loyal Good americans but who favor a homosexual  when you parse this thought it consists of two ideas. One idea is that both prejudice and homophobia arc so rampant that the Mere presence of an acknowledged Gay or lesbian is unacceptably disruptive. That i am afraid is what they Saia about mixing Black soldiers with White. The other idea is that homosexuals arc sexual predators who put other soldiers sharing quarters and showers at risk. This seems to be a particular worry to men yet there is no evidence that Gay men Are More sexually aggressive than straight men. This May be killing with faint Praise but it s True. More to t1ie Point at least the original Point the military has every right to make rules and regulations about behaviour. There May be Good reason for a military Quot incest taboo among shipmates and prohibitions within platoons. There arc rules against harassment. But it s still the sexual behaviour that counts not the sexual orientation. This fall Canada dropped its ban. Now its our turn. The military should worry about How its people make War not love. C Tho Boa Lon glob aed Koch s measures against racism unrealistic Edward Koch earned his reputation for Candor Many years ago and his voice in new York is As ubiquitous As it was when he was mayor More so when you consider that he gives speeches does television radio a newspaper column practices Law and lectures to students. At a recent seminar he gave a talk that he designates As among the most vital he has Ever Given because it is devoted to the question of racism which he deems the worst Scourge in history. Black White relations in America Are his principal concern but he is unwilling to think of our own race problems As either unique or As worse than elsewhere pointing to Britain France and Germany As examples. He acknowledges that racism continues in the United states believes it is lessening and believes that the Blacks economic lot is improving. But he looks then at the minefield through which we Are attempting to make our Way consider for instance Derrick Bell the Black professor of Law at Harvard whose volume faces at the Bottom of the Well the permanence of racism has received a strangely warm reception. Professor Bell is hardly an agent of reconciliation despising As manifestly he does the White race against whose continued persecutions he warns in his Book. One part of the Book deals with a fancied organization White citizens for Black survival a group that Aims to build a National network of secret shelters to House and feed Black people a in the event of a Black holocaust or some other All out attack on America s historic  such an attack professor Bel suggests is a not Only possible but probable. Koch does not attempt to talk to Derrick Bell to whom time consumed in constructing rational Bridges is wasted. But Koch gives figures that Are illuminating and encouraging. A the median income of Black families in which both husband and wife worked went from $28,700 in 1967 to $40,038 in 1990, an increase of 40 percent. For White families in the same period family income increased 17 percent from $40,000 to $47,247.�?� the figures focus on the Paramount problem in the Black Community which is single Parent Homes in which the statistical probability of poverty magnifies by 600 percent. He then Points to the single greatest source of Black White antagonism which is the incidence of Black crime. Quot forty five percent of All of the crimes of violence in this country Are committed by Blacks. Blacks Are 12 percent of the population. But for the most part Only males Are committing these crimes of violence which William of Buckley or. Means that roughly 6 percent of the population is committing 45 percent of the crimes of violence in this  Kochi scoffs at the explanation that poverty is the cause of this crime reminding us that everyone was a great Deal poorer during the depression when crime was much less. And he reminds us that the principal victims of Black crime Are fellow Blacks but asks a what does it matter in terms of internecine bad blood a if a Black victim is brutalized it makes no difference to Whites if it is by another Black instead of a White. They Are still frightened by the  and then too a Overall there Are far More crimes committed by Blacks against Whites than by Whites against Blacks. Whites Are 80 percent of the population therefore a greater part of the Pool of  very Well then what is to be done about it Koch believes that two measures should be taken. The first is to inaugurate a compulsory National service program for every 18-year-old, no exceptions. The second is to employ the armed forces of the United states to protect the Continental United states from the importation of cocaine. Do this he recommends by scaling the mexican Border and requiring incoming air planes to follow predesignated routes and submit to cargo searches. His third recommendation is to Send More of our criminals to jail or to Isol table Camps and to require drug treatment for addicts even though he acknowledges that the Success of such treatment is statistically problematic. For Many years i have admired de Koch and i still do even As i reject his two primary recommendations. I believe in National service but think it imperative that in order to succeed in accomplishing that change of perspective we desire it must be voluntary As the peace corps has been voluntary. As for drug proscription 1 Don t think it is possible except by inaugurating a society in which we  want to live legalize drugs for those Over 21, and execute anyone convicted of Selling drugs to a minor. That will leave us with about $25 billion per year to spend on therapy and education and will reduce the crime rate overnight by More than 50 percent. C unt Varsaci Poss sent Sicalo