Unfriendly Fire

by Dr. Nathaniel Frank

  5. Ibid., 50.

  6. Ibid., 51; Eric Schmitt, “Settling In: The Armed Services; Joint Chiefs Fighting Clinton Plan to Allow Homosexuals in Military,” New York Times, January 23, 1993.

  7. Bianco, “Echoes of Prejudice,” 51–55.

  8. Randy Shilts, Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the U.S. Military (New York: Ballantine Books, 1994), 744; John Gallagher and Chris Bull, Perfect Enemies: The Religious Right, the Gay Movement, and the Politics of the 1990s (New York: Crown Publishers, 1996), 136.

  9. Jim Wolffe, “Powell Stands by Gay Ban,” Army Times, May 25, 1992.

  10. Ibid.

  11. Author interview with John Hutson, February 19, 2008.

  12. Jon Meacham, “How Colin Powell Plays the Game,” Washington Monthly, December 1994; Christopher Hitchens, “The Case Against Powell,” Globe and Mail (Toronto), December 26, 2000.

  13. Susanne Schafer, “Changing Directions: Military Unprepared for Change on Gays,” Associated Press, November 11, 1992; John Cushman, “The Transition: Gay Rights; Top Military Officers Object to Lifting the Ban,” New York Times, November 14, 1992.

  14. Schafer, “Changing Directions.”

  15. Republican Research Committee’s Task Force on Military Personnel, Hearing of the Republican Research Committee’s Task Force on Military Personnel; Subject: Proposal to End the Ban on Gays in the Military, February 4, 1993.

  16. Robert Burns, “Top Navy Official Opposes Lifting Ban on Gays in Military,” Associated Press, November 24, 1992.

  17. Eric Schmitt, “Military Cites Wide Range of Reasons for Its Gay Ban,” New York Times, January 27, 1993.

  18. Ibid.; Eric Schmitt, “In Tailhook Deal, Top Admiral Says He’ll Retire Early,” New York Times, February 16, 1994.

  19. “Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Colin Powell Remarks to the U.S. Naval Academy,” Annapolis, MD, January 11, 1993.

  20. Author interviews with Charles Moskos, February 17, 2000, and subsequent follow-up communications.

  21. Ibid.; Charles Moskos, “Soldiering: It’s a Job, Not an Adventure in Social Change,” Washington Post, January 31, 1993; Charles Moskos, “Don’t Ignore Good Reasons for Homosexual Ban,” Army Times, March 16, 1992; Charles Moskos, “Why Banning Homosexuals Still Makes Sense,” Navy Times, March 30, 1992.

  22. Schafer, “Changing Directions”; W. Dale Nelson, “Clinton: No Timetable on Gays in Military, but He’ll Act ‘Firmly,’ ” Associated Press, November 16, 1992.

  23. Gallagher and Bull, Perfect Enemies, 88–94.

  24. Ibid., 129.

  25. Leslie Dreyfous, “Gays in the Military? The Rank and File React,” Associated Press, November 12, 1992; Debbie Howlett, “Fate of Gays in Military Tests Tradition,” USA Today, November 12, 1992.

  26. John Cushman, “The Transition: Gay Rights; Top Military Officers Object to Lifting the Ban,” New York Times, November 14, 1992; “How the System Works—Civilians Will Decide About Gays in the Military,” Seattle Times, November 19, 1992.

  27. Cushman, “The Transition.”

  28. John Lancaster, “Clinton and the Military: Is Gay Policy Just the Opening Skirmish?” Washington Post, February 1, 1993; author interview with David Mixner; David Mixner, Stranger Among Friends (New York: Bantam, 1996).

  29. Greg McDonald, “Clinton Seeks Bipartisan Help in Visit to Congress,” Houston Chronicle, November 20, 1992.

  30. “Capitol Real Estate,” USA Today, December 1, 1992; “Straightforward Approach to Gays in Military,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 8, 1992.

  31. Tom Morganthau, “Gays and the Military,” Newsweek, February 1, 1993.

  32. Eric Schmitt, “Clinton Aides Study Indirect End to Military Ban on Homosexuals,” New York Times, January 13, 1993; Rowland Evans and Robert Novak, “Military Chiefs Resist the Admission of Gays,” Chicago Sun-Times, January 27, 1993.

  33. Author interview with John Holum, March 12, 2008.

  34. Ibid.

  35. “Dole, Nunn Urge Clinton to Go Slow Lifting Ban on Gays,” United Press International, November 15, 1992; Cragg Hines, “Two Key Senators Object to Letting Gays in Military,” Houston Chronicle, November 16, 1992.

  36. Michael Binyon, “Nunn’s Past Provides New Twist to Tower Debate,” Times (London), March 1, 1989.

  37. Michael Wines, “The Gay Troop Issue; This Time, Nunn Tests a Democrat,” New York Times, January 30, 1993.

  38. Author interview with Urvashi Vaid, March 5, 2008. For an example of Nunn’s hostility, see his questioning of Lt. JG Richard Dirk Selland and Lt. JG Tracy Thorne in Senate Committee on Armed Services, Policy Concerning Homosexuality in the Armed Forces, 103rd Cong., 2nd sess., 1993; Dan Balz, “Homosexual Rights Stance Praised; Georgia’s Sen. Nunn Lauds Glenn, but Stops Short of Endorsing Him,” Washington Post, January 21, 1984; David Pace, “Nunn Target of Protest for Dismissal of Homosexual Aides in Early 1980s,” Associated Press, December 7, 1992.

  39. Ron Fournier, “Aspin Says Changes in Military Ban Would Be Made Cautiously,” Associated Press, December 22, 1992.

  40. David Lauter, “Clash with Nunn Becomes Test of Power for Clinton,” Los Angeles Times, January 28, 1993; Wines, “The Gay Troop Issue.”

  41. “Dole, Nunn Urge Clinton to Go Slow.”

  42. Lauter, “Clash with Nunn Becomes Test”; Michael Gordon, “Man in the News; Pathfinders of the Middle Ground: Leslie Aspin, Jr.,” New York Times, December 23, 1992.

  43. Author interview with Vaid.

  44. Shilts, Conduct Unbecoming, 743; Vaid, Virtual Equality, 165; Gallagher and Bull, Perfect Enemies, 132–33; Art Pine, “Issue Explodes into an All-Out Lobbying War,” Los Angeles Times, January 28, 1993.

  45. Author interview with Chai Feldblum, March 11, 2008; Tim McFeeley, “Getting It Straight: A Review of the ‘Gays in the Military’ Debate,” in John D’Emilio et al., eds., Creating Change: Sexuality, Public Policy, and Civil Rights (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000), 236–50; author interview with Vaid.

  46. Leonard Larsen, “Clinton Should Listen to His Soldiers,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, November 25, 1992; Gallagher and Bull, Perfect Enemies, 141.

  47. CNN Live, CNN, January 27, 1993; Ruth Marcus and Helen Dewar, “Clinton Seeks Deal on Gays in Military; Nunn Urges Delay of ‘Final’ Action,” Washington Post, January 28, 1993.

  48. John Marsh, “Let Congress Decide,” New York Times, January 14, 1993.

  49. Evans and Novak, “Military Chiefs Resist the Admission of Gays,” January 27, 1993.

  50. Ibid.

  51. Melissa Healy and Karen Tumulty, “Aides Say Clinton to End Prosecution of Military’s Gays,” Los Angeles Times, January 28, 1993; Lauter, “Clash with Nunn Becomes Test.”

  52. Balz, “Homosexual Rights Stance Praised”; Sam Nunn, “This . . . May Even Require His Resignation,” Washington Post, August 23, 1998.

  53. Eric Schmitt, “Settling In.”

  54. Ibid.; Eric Schmitt, “Pentagon Chief Warns Clinton on Gay Policy,” New York Times, January 25, 1993.

  55. Schmitt, “Pentagon Chief Warns Clinton”; Face the Nation, CBS News, January 24, 1993.

  56. Face the Nation, January 24, 1993; author interview with Tim McFeeley, March 7, 2008.

  57. Eric Schmitt, “Joint Chiefs Hear Clinton Again Vow to Ease Gay Policy,” New York Times, January 26, 1993.

  58. Lauter, “Clash with Nunn Becomes Test”; Nightline, ABC News, January 29, 1993.

  59. Adam Clymer, “Lawmakers Revolt on Lifting Gay Ban in Military Service,” New York Times, January 27, 1993; Schmitt, “Joint Chiefs Hear Clinton.”

  60. Clymer, “Lawmakers Revolt on Lifting Gay Ban”; Gwen Ifill, “White House Backs 2-Step Plan to End Military’s Gay Ban,” New York Times, January 28, 1993.

  61. Les Aspin, “Policy on Homosexual Conduct in the Armed Forces, Memorandum for the Secretary of the Army, Secretary of the Navy, Secretary of the Air Force, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff,” Office of the Secretary of Defense, Weekly Compilation of Presidential Docume
nts, vol. 29, July 19, 1993.

  62. Thomas Friedman, “Compromise Near on Military’s Ban on Homosexuals,” New York Times, January 29, 1993.

  63. Eric Schmitt, “The Gay Troop Issue; How Rules Will be Altered on Homosexuals in Military,” New York Times, January 30, 1993; Ifill, “White House Backs 2-Step Plan”; Gwen Ifill, “The Gay Troop Issue; Clinton Accepts Delay in Lifting Military Gay Ban,” New York Times, January 30, 1993.

  64. Thomas Ricks and Jill Abramson, “Clinton Agrees to Compromise on Military Ban,” Wall Street Journal, January 28, 1993; “The Gay Troop Issue; Excerpts from the News Conferences by Clinton and Nunn,” New York Times, January 30, 1993; Ifill, “White House Backs 2-Step Plan”; Ifill, “The Gay Troop Issue.”

  65. Ifill, “White House Backs 2-Step Plan”; Dan Coats, “Clinton’s Big Mistake,” New York Times, January 30, 1993; Ifill, “The Gay Troop Issue.”

  66. Nightline, January 29, 1993; Healy and Tumulty, “Aides Say Clinton to End Prosecution.”

  4. LISTENING TO NUNN: THE CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS ON GAY SERVICE

  1. Bill Gertz, “Nunn Defies Clinton on Gays in Military,” Washington Times, November 16, 1992.

  2. Susan Rasky, “Washington at Work; Two Unlikely Voices That Find Harmony on the Military Budget,” New York Times, May 2, 1990.

  3. Author interview with Tim McFeeley, March 7, 2008; author interview with Robert Raben, February 20, 2008.

  4. Senate Committee on Armed Services, Policy Concerning Homosexuality, 1993, 3–4.

  5. Ibid.; David Ari Bianco, “Echoes of Prejudice: The Debates over Race and Sexuality in the Armed Forces,” in Craig Rimmerman, ed., Gay Rights, Military Wrongs: Political Perspectives on Lesbians and Gays in the Military (New York: Garland Publishing, 1996), 60.

  6. Meet the Press, NBC News, May 30, 1993.

  7. Senate Committee on Armed Services, Policy Concerning Homosexuality, 1993, 4, 6, 7, 10, 40, 50, 167, 168.

  8. Senate Committee on Armed Services, Policy Concerning Homosexuality, 1993, 100– 103; House Committee on Armed Services, Policy Implications of Lifting the Ban, 1993.

  9. Senate Committee on Armed Services, Policy Concerning Homosexuality, 1993, 163–68.

  10. Ibid., 170.

  11. Ibid., 499–512.

  12. Ibid., 347, 348, 468.

  13. Ibid., 239–40.

  14. Ibid.

  15. Author interview with Judith Stiehm, March 23, 2000.

  16. Senate Committee on Armed Services, Policy Concerning Homosexuality, 1993, 400–33.

  17. Ibid.

  18. Ibid.

  19. Ibid., 433–34.

  20. Ibid., 452–53.

  21. Ibid., 469; on HIV incidence, see Centers for Disease Control at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5127a2.htm (accessed May 3, 2007).

  22. Senate Committee on Armed Services, Policy Concerning Homosexuality, 1993, 470.

  23. Ibid., 484–85.

  24. Ibid., 457–59.

  25. Ibid., 458.

  26. Ibid., 477–81, 490–92.

  27. Ibid., 478.

  28. Ibid., 478–79.

  29. Ibid., 492.

  30. Kari Frederickson, The Dixiecrat Revolt and the End of the Solid South, 1932–1968 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001), 140; Sixty Minutes, CBS News, December 17, 2003; Senate Committee on Armed Services, Policy Concerning Homosexuality, 1993, 493–94.

  31. Senate Committee on Armed Services, Policy Concerning Homosexuality, 1993, 493–94.

  32. Ibid., 490–95.

  33. “News Conference Secretary of Defense Les Aspin, Jamie Gorelick, General Counsel, Department of Defense Regarding the Regulations on Homosexual Conduct in the Military,” press conference, December 22, 1993.

  34. Senate Committee on Armed Services, Policy Concerning Homosexuality, 1993, 483–91.

  35. Ibid., 494.

  36. Ibid., 534; Jim Drinkard, “Gay-Rights Backers Not That Harsh on McCain,” USA Today, January 19, 2000.

  37. Kent Jenkins, “Into Troubled Waters,” Washington Post, May 11, 1993.

  38. Senate Committee on Armed Services, Policy Concerning Homosexuality, 1993, 491, 524–35.

  39. Ibid., 526–34, 585.

  40. Ibid., 540, 548.

  41. Ibid., 540.

  42. Ibid., 523, 541–43.

  43. Jenkins, “Into Troubled Waters”; Senate Committee on Armed Services, Policy Concerning Homosexuality, 1993, 561–62.

  44. Senate Committee on Armed Services, Policy Concerning Homosexuality, 1993, 564–65.

  45. Ibid., 567, 572.

  46. Ibid., 567.

  47. Ibid., 537, 568–69.

  48. Aaron Belkin, “ ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’: Is the Gay Ban Based on Military Necessity?” Parameters (Summer, 2003): 117; John Gallagher and Chris Bull, Perfect Enemies: The Religious Right, the Gay Movement, and the Politics of the 1990s (New York: Crown Publishers, 1996), 147; Jenkins, “Into Troubled Waters”; David Mixner, Stranger Among Friends (New York: Bantam, 1996), 319.

  49. Senate Committee on Armed Services, Policy Concerning Homosexuality, 1993, 588–89.

  50. Meet the Press, NBC News, May 30, 1993.

  51. House Committee on Armed Services, Policy Implications of Lifting the Ban, 1993; House Committee on Armed Services, Assessment of the Plan to Lift the Ban on Homosexuals in the Military, Hearings Before the Military Forces and Personnel Subcommittee of the Committee on Armed Services, House of Representatives, 103rd Cong., 1st sess., 1993.

  52. Ibid.; House Committee on Armed Services, Policy Implications of Lifting the Ban, 1993.

  53. Melissa Sheridan Embser-Herbert, The U.S. Military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Policy: A Reference Handbook (Westport, CT: Praeger Security International, 2007).

  54. House Committee on Armed Services, Policy Implications of Lifting the Ban, 1993.

  55. Ibid.

  56. Ibid.

  57. Mixner, Stranger Among Friends, 301–10.

  58. Ibid., 301; Elizabeth Drew, On The Edge: The Clinton Presidency (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994), 250.

  59. Les Aspin, “Policy on Homosexual Conduct in the Armed Forces, Memorandum for the Secretary of the Army, Secretary of the Navy, Secretary of the Air Force, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff,” Office of the Secretary of Defense, Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, vol. 29, July 19, 1993; a “senior administration official” briefing reporters about the final policy on July 16, days before it was officially announced, said, “It’s fair to call this policy ‘don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t pursue’ ”: “Background Briefing on Gays in the Military,” U.S. Newswire, July 16, 1993; Les Aspin used the policy’s full name in December 1993. See “News Conference,” December 22, 1993.

  60. Aspin, “Policy on Homosexual Conduct.”

  61. 10 USC 654, Policy Concerning Homosexuality in the Armed Forces; Clifford Krauss, “With Caveat, House Approves Gay-Troops Policy,” New York Times, September 29, 1993.

  62. Paul Quinn-Judge, “Senate OK’s Tougher Version of Policy on Gays in Military,” Boston Globe, September 10, 1993; “Senate’s Policy on Gays Tougher than Clinton’s,” Bergen Record, September 10, 1993; Krauss, “With Caveat, House Approves Gay-Troops Policy”; Martin Kasindorf, “Gay Rights Lose in Military Bill,” Newsday, September 29, 1993.

  63. Krauss, “With Caveat, House Approves Gay-Troops Policy”; Kasindorf, “Gay Rights Lose in Military Bill.”

  64. Ibid.; Charles Doe, “New Pentagon Policy on Gays in Military Now in Effect,” United Press International, March 1, 1994.

  5. THE EVIDENCE

  1. Eric Schmitt, “Pentagon Speeds Plan to Lift Gay Ban,” New York Times, April 16, 1993.

  2. National Defense Research Institute, Sexual Orientation and U.S. Military Personnel Policy: Options and Assessments (Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation, 1993).

  3. “Study Would Allow Sodomy, Integrate Gays in Military,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 6, 1993; Eric Schmitt, “Pentagon Keeps Silent on Rejecte
d Gay Troop Plan,” New York Times, July 23, 1993.

  4. Author interview with Charles Moskos, February 17, 2000; Eric Schmitt, “Months After Order on Gay Ban, Military Is Still Resisting Clinton,” New York Times, March 23, 1993; Schmitt, “Pentagon Speeds Plan to Lift Gay Ban.”

  5. Author interview with Minter Alexander, February 20, 2008; William J. Clinton, “Memorandum on Ending Discrimination in the Armed Forces,” January 29, 1993.

  6. Author interview with Alexander.

  7. Author interview with Vincent Patton, February 28, 2008.

  8. U.S. Department of Defense, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Summary Report of the Military Working Group, July 1, 1993.

  9. Kate Dyer, ed., Gays in Uniform: The Pentagon’s Secret Reports (Boston: Alyson Publications, 1990).

  10. Theodore Sarbin and Kenneth Karols, Nonconforming Sexual Orientations and Military Suitability, Defense Personnel Security Research and Education Center, December 1988; Michael McDaniel, Preservice Adjustment of Homosexual and Heterosexual Military Accessions: Implications for Security Clearance Suitability, Defense Personnel Security Research and Education Center, January 1989; Dyer, Gays in Uniform.

  11. Sarbin and Karols, Nonconforming Sexual Orientations; Michael Frisby, “Military Seeks Third Study of Policy on Gays,” Boston Globe, November 2, 1989.

  12. Ibid.

  13. McDaniel, Preservice Adjustment; La Tricia Ransom and Mary Ann Hu, “Pentagon’s Own Reports Refute Military Stand on Gays,” Oregonian, January 29, 1993.

  14. Dyer, Gays in Uniform; Frisby, “Military Seeks Third Study”; Senate Committee on Armed Services, Policy Concerning Homosexuality, 1993, 291–349; Donna Cassata, “Studies Estimating Military 10 Percent Gay Said Dumped by Pentagon,” Associated Press, April 1, 1993.

  15. Craig Alderman, “Memorandum for Director DOD Personnel Security Research and Education Center,” January 18, 1989; Craig Alderman, “Memo for Mr. Peter Nelson Through Mr. Maynard Anderson,” February 10, 1989; Frisby, “Military Seeks Third Study.”