European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 1, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse S Gay move helps military March in right direction Fps Sou Clarence Page a and lesbian leaders arc being too hard on president Clinton for his tortured Compromise of the military a ban on homosexuals. Gays and lesbians complain mightily that they can still be discharged for homosexual conduct such As kissing hugging or maybe even dancing although the new rules Arentt quite Clear. Maybe same sex dancer Fig is Okas Long As its not Cheek to Cheek. At least the official expensive and useless Witch Hunts will be ended. That a not much but its a Start. Yes Clinton could have done what Many outspoken activists wanted by signing an executive order to lift the ban outright. It would have been bold. It would have been a matter of also would have been overturned by a congressional backlash. But that a not All. It also would have meant a at most certain restoration of the most conservative policy the one Clinton ended when he stopped the military from asking about sexuality at enlistment. Instead his Compromise conceived in consultation with the joint chiefs of staff appears to hav6 muted sen. Sam Nunns social conservative Axis while this Issue moves on to the courts whose Job it will be to figure out such Touchy topics As whether there is a constitutional right to Danee Check to Cheek. The Issue is in the courts anyway but thanks to Clinton s Compromise military personnel their families and the rest of the nation have a breathing spell to get used to tire loosened policy. As an army Veteran i am not surprised to see military men and women Gripe about any kind of Cau. Do name you answer Quot ii Quot 6armr? to you a fwd. Per a Yoo to servant will bout use wac. M Tuure l oust myi Pinr a such a forehead Quot change. Some will quit rather than serve with Gays even though they have been serving with Gays All along whether they acknowledged it or not. Their departure will be no great loss in an Era of cutbacks. But most will adjust. Gay or straight military pc pie Are accustomed to rules of behaviour and expression that would be unacceptable in the civilian world. Clinton love him or not has moved the culture in a direction it did no to want to go but go it must. Still those who put their Faith in court orders that bypass legislators and the Public a willingness to accept change benighted or not show the same self destructive arrogance that led to the anti abortion backlash that followed the supreme courts Roe is. Wade abortion rights decision. The result was the pro Choice movements Nightmare president Reagan. Besides the Post Reagan supreme court cannot be depended upon to protect homosexual rights As fundamental. Activists figured that out when the High court upheld i think wrongly a Georgia anti sodomy Law in a 5-to-4 Bowers is. Hardwick decision in 1986 that said the Constitution docs not give consenting adults the right to engage in private Homo sexual activity. Of Well discrimination against Blacks in the military did no tend overnight either. The comparison is significant. A tempest has erupted Over whether the homosexual rights struggle can properly be compared to the Black liberation struggle. A it can although there arc significant differences. Sexuality for example is More easily concealed than race. Still that does no to justify government orders to keep it concealed just to appease bigotry. In that vein the a acpt a new president Ben Chavis pressed his organization to endorse after vigorous argument a lifting of the Gay ban recognizing that when Justice is unfairly denied to any of us it is denied to All of us. But Ccu remember history. President Truman is often credited with ending the military a segregation of the races with a stroke of the pen on his executive order in 1948. But True desegregation did no to come until several years later when the manpower needs of the korean War resulted in desegregation by attrition. Black casualties were replaced with Whites and Whites with Blacks until All units were integrated. The old saying that there Are no bigots in Foxholes held True. ,. The Cal Carlo Tribune answering machines Call for an old response hang up Andy Rooney High on my list of inventions wed have been better off without is the Telephone answering machine. An answering machine can sometimes be a convenience but there Are More negative than positive aspects to owning one in the four years since we got Purs we be probably had a thousand messages left while we were a unable to come to the phone right at least 200 were Click hangups people who quite sensibly did no to want to Chat with our machine. Half a dozen were Calls from the camera store saying our pictures were ready. Wrong numbers accounted for 10 percent of the Calls. Most of those were for a furniture store with a number a lot like ours. People wanted to know if the Couch they were having re upholstered was ready yet. Most of the rest were salesmen fake Charity solicitors or Calls from someone in the alumni office asking How much i planned to give this year. A few were from friends. I done to know about your friends but our friends have no idea what to say to a machine. They re As awkward As i am talking to a machine. A ooh hello Marge a say. A this is Linda. I just wanted to Tell you that Marly can to play wednesday because Jim has to go to Cleveland. Call me when you can because maybe we can get Jean. Of life on Earth As we know it would have continued whether Margie got this information or not but information Isnit the problem. The problem is no one knows How to Start or finish talking to a machine. A hello Quot a Bye Quot Why would you say that to a machine a a the initial messages people program into their machines Are always badly done and too Long. The opening line in an unnatural wooden voice goes like this a hello. You. Have. Reached 5554703. We. Can to. Come. To. The. Phone. R. Right. Now. But. If. You. Will. Leave. Brief. Message. After. The beep. We. Will. Get. Back. To. You. As. Soon. As. in the first place you already know what number you called and its irritating to waste your time listening while someone gives it to you. The second part of the recorded message a we cannot come to the phone Quot is based on the theory that if a burglar called and you said you weren to Home the burglar would come right Over. But if you fool the burglar by saying you can to come to the phone the burglar will think you re in the Bathtub and he wont come. Id like to talk to a burglar about this theory. There a still a Large group of answering machine owners who insist on recording cute messages that callers have to listen to every time they dial the number and no one is Home. Friends of ours had their three children each record part of the message. A fellow i know in Hollywood had a Friend who could imitate Ronald Reagan. He recorded the message As if you had called the White House. I Haven to called him lately. He probably has someone now Wio imitates Clinton. Come to think of it his idea of funny would be to get someone imitating Hillary or better yet Chelsea. A hello. Mommy and daddy Arentt Home right at the very least funny recorded messages on answering machines should be outlawed by the acc. Tribune Modia serve cos Andy Rooney is a Lormer stars and stripes reporter. August 1, 1903 sunday Page 9
