European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 21, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday june 21, 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 17judge put Clinton s Gay policy on Tightrope Al a Jill Lawrence the a a done task done to Tell bargain president Clinton struck last year under pressure from Congress and the military has come to tins his principles on Gay rights issues Are under continuing attack by his own administration. The arguments a Federal judge made recently in ordering the reinstatement of a Gay military nurse sounded eerily like the eloquent anti discrimination declarations of candidate Clinton but this month Clinton a Justice department appealed the judges decision and asked that the highly decorated nurse a col Marga Rethe Kammermeyer a be permanently ousted from the National guard. A a it a got to be an embarrassment for the administration a says Doug Hattaway spokesman for the human rights Campaign fund. A we can Only Hope the courts in the end take care of it.�?�. The Gay Community responded to Clinton a presidential candidacy with outpourings of emotional and financial sup port a nearly $6 million from Hattaway a political action committee alone. Gay Clinton supporters hardly expected to find his administration arguing As it did last week that restoring Kammermeyer to duty a is Likely to have Adverse effects on the ability of the military to maintain morale efficiency and Mission  equally chagrined Are Clinton backers who ended up with jobs at the White House and Justice department. A a there a been a lot of grinning and bearing it a said one department official. A it Hasni to been  Clinton had pledged during his Campaign to end the military a ban on Gay service members. While activists arc distressed about the current state of affairs they say its the Only blemish on Clinton a record. In fact within Days of appealing the Kammermeyer decision the Justice department issued a Broad policy permitting homosexuals persecuted in other countries for their sexual preference to seek Asylum in the United states a Bill Clinton Isnit prejudiced against Gay people. He a the most supportive president we a Ever had a Hattaway said. The current awkward course was set last summer when Clinton settled for a military policy under which officers were not supposed to ask anyone a sexual orientation or search out people they thought might be Gay. Gay troops were not supposed to disclose their orientation. But As judges have declared it unconstitutional or discriminatory to dismiss Gay personnel the Clinton administration has found it difficult to draw a line Between the old ban and the new Compromise. Officials concluded attacks on the old system were bound to undermine the new. Thus people who thought they would be fighting discrimination instead arc fighting its alleged victims in no fewer than 10 cases dating from the Days of the ban plus another four filed since it was modified. Administration officials a understand they basically lost the Issue a said rep. Barney Frank a mass one of two publicly Gay members of Congress. In his own View a the Way its worked out has been a total  the rate of discharge has not changed under the new policy and officials Are still Hunting for Gays said Dixon Osburn of the service members Legal defense network Persona diaries and computer files have been read he said and military officers recently claimed a pair of 1970s-style platform shoes was evidence of homosexual conduct. Kammermeyer a 26-year Veteran who earned a. Bronze Star in Vietnam revealed her lesbianism two years ago under questioning during a Security clearance. Frank said he tried and failed to discourage a White House Challenge to the order to reinstate Kammermeyer and to Clear her record. However he said he accepted the need to Appeal part of the order Banning future action against Kammermeyer his reasoning a a she a made it very Clear she does no to intend to  that a grounds for discharge under current. Policy and Frank contends the Justice department has no Choice but to defend current policy. However others in the Gay Community say they see no reason the administration must defend a flawed policy. A a there a no Way that anyone can justify appealing these cases either legally or morally Quot said los Angeles business consultant David Mixner a Clinton fund Raiser and College Friend. A if the Appeal is upheld it will have historical ramifications for Gays and lesbians who wish to serve their country. It is a very serious game that they Are  this week Frank and others plan to introduce a Bill outlawing Job discrimination against homosexuals. Clinton a Choice will be Clear sit out the inevitable bitter Battle or stick to the principles he talked about when be ran for president. C the associated pros. A set a Tough Standard you can pretty much Divide the world into two Camps now a those who talk about the Sandberg precedent and those who Call it the Sandberg syndrome. Peoples reactions to the Surprise retirement last week of Chicago cubs Allstar second baseman Ryne Sandberg Tell you almost everything you need to know about their character. Sandberg in Case you have been visiting another planet or even More implausibly do not care a Fig for baseball is a Likely future Hall of Famer. In his 12-plus years with the cubs he was on the All Star team 10 times won the Gold Glove Fielding award nine times and once was the National leagues most valuable player. Thirteen other second basemen Are already enshrined at Cooperstown . Sandberg has More homers than All but two of them and fewer errors and better Fielding percentage than any of them. Last year he signed a four year 528 million contract the richest in cubs history. But last week he called it quits at age 34, dismayed that his average had slumped 50 Points below his ,2s9 lifetime Mark and that he had failed to deliver in several clutch situations. By retiring he left something like $18 million on the table. In his Farewell news conference the normally no communicative player said a i am not the Type of person who can be satisfied with anything less than my very Best Effort and my very top performance. 1 am not the Type of person who can leave my game at the Ballpark and feel comfortable the future is set regardless of my performance. A and i am certainly not the Type of person who can ask the cubs organization and Chicago cubs fans to pay my salary when 1 am not Happy with my mental approach and my  the reactions to tins remarkable Adieu fall into two distinct Camps. The Sandberg _ syndrome group sees this As the definitive proof that today a jocks a and by implication their generation a Are really wimps. A can you imagine Billy Marlin quitting because he was in a slump a one Guy in the office asked. Martin the fiery Yankee would have punched out the manager and two or three umpires before he admitted he might have lost it himself. The second comment from the syndrome Section was that Sandberg had let Down the team and the fans he did no to have the right to make the decision for himself. A David s. Broder fellow cub fan in Congress said. A the can to just walk  implicit in this reaction is the belief that the 20-somethings, the 3f somethings and even Bill Clinton a 40-Somcthings Are too self absorbed to understand their responsibilities. Sandberg a retirement is equated to Clinton a pulling the Landing party Back from Haiti when the regimes thugs lined the Dock or withdrawing his threats to the bosnian serbs when our european allies walked. A no guts is the verdict. But there is another View that i find More persuasive. It argues that Sandberg set a healthy precedent. He had the detachment a and the courage a to stand Back and judge himself against the toughest of yardsticks the one he set for himself. He was not Content just to get by to show up and draw his paycheck. He had something to prove a cry Day and when he  prove it he got out. It is the rarity of that kind of occurrence in our society that makes Sandberg performance so hard for Many to accept. It happens almost never in politics. George Mitchell stunned Washington when he announced earlier this year that he was leaving the Senate and his powerful position As majority Leader. But Mitchell 60, does not display any diminished capacity to do the Job. He just wanted other challenges. Similarly sen. Jack Danforth of Missouri is walking away at the top of his game. Relentlessly As sports figures. There a no equivalent of a batting average or a Fielding average for a member of Congress a Cabinet official or a president. But remember Sandberg was in the lineup almost to the Day he retired. He took himself out of the game. He Wasny to benched the closest i Ever saw to the Sandberg precedent in my business of new spa Perm was Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee. To All appearances Bradlee had As much Energy drive and competitive zest As he Ever did. But in that Gruff growling Way of his he let the people on the paper he had built know that Trie inner fires had been banked and he did no to want to find himself going through the motions. On the Day he walked out of the newsroom he had More Bounce and Spring in his step than 99 percent of the rest of us. But lie decided it wis time. He and Sandberg Are Hall of a Nicks a if just for knowing How and when to hang it up. Toe. A the was the Backbone of that team a a \ Cut people in Public life Are judged As the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to be considered As representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United states government