European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 29, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday january 29, 1993 commentary the stars and stripes Paga 15 Powell s the president knows he will catch big trouble for it but makes up his mind lie orders the armed forces to treat car taint it cop a exactly like All other Macri cans a full duties in combat full rights at All times. Gays Aren t the top commanders and almost every body under them object passionately. These people will create problems by their . Rosenthal very presence in the Barracks they say. And first thing you know they will want to live among us in Post housing go to our churches and social events. Tiey will create disorder because of the hatred toward them and be cause they have different ways and thoughts. Do it answers the president. And so american Blacks became a totally integrated part of the armed forces of the United states. There was some trouble at first but nothing compared with the benefits to the armed forces to Black americans and to the country. Now a Black general Colin i Powell is chairman of the joint chiefs of staff which of course could never have Hap pwned without president Harry Truman a decision 45 years ago. The general has been leading the opposition to president Clinton a determination to lift the ban on homosexual americans a any color either sex a from serving in the military. No american except the president is More important in the debate than Powell a because he is the chief of chiefs because he is Black and does not have to be told about discrimination and because he com mands respect throughout the nation. Also like so Many other americans bound for destiny he is an immigrant s son who attended the City College of new York. Powell has been asked the question Many times a if Blacks could become part of the armed forces Over opposition Why not homosexuals his reasons Are Worth listening to a Aid answering. The issues Are different the general says. Forty Odd years ago Blacks were already in the military but segregated. So it was a question of equal Opportunity not entry. What the general is saying therefore is that the by aclus had Long since been Given the Opportunity to serve and showed their Worth a but that homosexuals should continue to be denied that Chance. It is hard to find logic in that a unless you accept the general a argument that skin color was a Quot fairly benign characteristic while Gays in the military raise the a tar More complicated Issue of sex Ual identity. Sex sure can get complicated. But skin color was not All that a a benign a characteristic when it meant the difference Between Freedom and slavery and when even after military integration Blacks could ride Southern buses Only in the Back. But the general and other opponents of Gay military service do raise issues where homosexuals and their supporters May have to make compromises. Among them Gay marriages Gay clubs on the Post Gay bars and entertainment near the Post. Maybe while they arc at it the armed forces can get rid of All self segregated clubs and bars White Black or sexual. And if Nasty Gay groups Start a a Outing service members who want to keep their homosexuality private the homosexual Community should fight the harassers for what they Are enemies of personal sexual and political Liberty. The most important military argument against Gays is that their presence could cripple discipline and order. Isnit that a strange argument for the military to make now that homosexuals Are openly part of american civilian life american business professions universities churches and Congress manage to maintain order while accepting homosexuals. Are the armed forces lesser the military May have greater need for discipline than civilian groups but its executives also have a lot More clout. So i have an answer for a question Powell raised last month at american University a what can he Tell a heterosexual youngster who comes in and says that in Bis private accommodations he prefers to Nave heterosexuals around him not Gays general i would ask him if he had been molested. If not i would Tell him exactly what an army colonel commanding the Roth wartime unit at City College suggested to me when i asked him some uppity question for the Campus paper. A boy a he said a get the hell out of my office a r c the new Jofh to Len to the opinions a apr cd in coh Mims and or Tom on thai pm re profit photo of Tho out Horo onto m in no Way Loon Eona Farod a Rapina Nung Tho alow of Tho Start and Stii Paa or too Unrad Itti Gow Mam. Smell Baird Case stunk we done to know whether Zoe Baird had the qualifications to be a Good attorney general. And we re never going to know a not Only because she has now withdrawn Ber name from nomination but also because very few of the questions asked her by the Senate judiciary committee at her aborted confirmation hearings and very Little of the Media a examination of her had anything to do with substantive matters related to ones functioning As an attorney general. A Public swell of protest some of it orchestrated but much of it spontaneous forced her to withdraw Over her hiring of illegal aliens As household workers a and that was virtually the Only Issue discussed endlessly at the hearings. In the aftermath Many questions come to mind. For example How Many of those in High places who found Baird unfit because she had violated the Law in the hiring of Domestic help could pass the test they had applied to her millions of people across this country employ others to do housework and in a Large number of cases maybe even a majority the domestics Are paid in Cash a off the books so to speak. That a known As dodging taxes. Not lax avoidance not tax forgetfulness but tax evasion. Have any of the senators on the judiciary committee Ever paid a housekeeper or other personal employee whether full Lime or part time or just once a week in Cash and what about the rest of the Senate and the House and the White House staff and the Cabinet and the Federal judiciary across the country and slate Legislatures and so on and Infin Tum you d surely turn up a legion of Public officials who were perpetrators of this species of tax evasion Dodge. Will they then step Down from their posts As Baird had to step d in As far As i know breaking the tax Law is no less serious a transgression than breaking the immigration Law. Sydney h. Schanberg in real life however neither Law As it relates to household help is enforced by the government. Some violations Are simply judged to be so widespread and so condoned in the Community that As a practical matter they cannot be pursued. Baird was judged by a different Standard having been nominated for perhaps the most in. Portent Job in the Cabinet and a thus forced to face the glaring and unpredictable scrutiny of Senate and Public alike. I am not a partisan for Baird 1 honestly done to know whether she was up to the Job a though at the very least she had to be Superior to her predecessors in the Reagan and Bush administrations who distorted the Law by converting the department of Justice into a political backroom. I also am not suggesting that nominees to senior posts should be confirmed without close examination. The standards should be higher since these people Are supposed to set the Lone and example for the rest of us. To the extent that Baird was brought Down by unrehearsed and honest Public outcry Over the illegal immigrant episode so be it. That is our system. What 1 find objectionable is the smell of Sanctimony that accompanied her downfall in some quarters. Let those who Are uttering the pities file affidavits swearing to their total Freedom from sin. Yes Baird makes a hefty salary. Yes she is a woman of privilege. But did she earn these achievements thereby following an honoured and old fashioned american custom does being a member of the Well to do class make her a person who is automatically arrogant mean haughty heard nothing from her critics suggesting these traits. However there was something in the confirmation hearings that suggested a curious shared trait among her critics. Simply put they talked to her differ a from the Way they would talk i a and women on the committee did this. Perhaps they were unaware of their habit it being so ingrained in our social conditioning. But it was there nonetheless. Sen Strom Thurmond the courtly Republican Tumbler from South Carolina was so charmingly condescending in his approach that i quote him Here. Thurmond a i have had some serious concerns about your relationship with these peruvian people. Now As i understand you admit you did wrong. Is that Correct Quot Baird  Thurmond a a you re sorry you did wrong a Baird  Thurmond a a you re repentant for doing wrong a Baird a yes  Thurmond a you wont do it again a Baird a you can be sure of  titters rippled through the hearing room and Baird herself laughed nervously it is beyond my gifts of invention to imagine Thurmond posing that same series of questions to a Man. After embarrassing events such As these the embarrassed parties always like to say for Lack of a More original platitude that they Learned something from the experience. Would that it were so. 1 now await the new nominees appearance before this feeble judiciary committee. I also await the results of the investigation into which Public officials have been paying their housekeepers off the books. C nowadays