Urges White House Action : Dannemeyer Suggests a Top-Level Gay Drift

In a strongly worded letter to President Bush, Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton) suggests that homosexuals in the Administration have tilted White House policy away from “traditional family values” to promote the “homosexual movement.”

Reacting to local reports that a Washington male prostitution ring catered to clients high in the Administration, Dannemeyer called on Bush to sign an executive order banning federal employees from directly or indirectly encouraging homosexuality, as well as bisexuality, bestiality and pedophilia.

“The public might ask how two consecutive, conservative administrations can do more to advance the influence of the homosexual movement in public policy than an overtly sympathetic Administration might have,” Dannemeyer said in the letter, which was sent to the White House on Thursday.

He added: “One answer may turn up in the current investigations (of the alleged male prostitution ring). This would explain much.”

The Washington Times reported Thursday that federal authorities are investigating a ring of male prostitutes whose clients allegedly included Paul R. Balach, political personnel liaison to the White House for Labor Secretary Elizabeth Hanford Dole. Balach resigned Thursday, citing public disclosure of “activities concerning my personal life.”

In addition, Dannemeyer told the President that Bush’s announced support for a so-called “hate crimes” bill, that would require the Justice Department to annually catalogue crimes linked to the victim’s race, religion, ethnic group or sexual preference, “is a subtle affirmation of homosexuality.” The legislation was approved by the House this week and now must be considered by the Senate.

“This bill is a precursor to amending the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include sexual orientation along with race, religion, creed and national origin,” Dannemeyer wrote.

The White House had no immediate reaction.

However, the response from the nation’s oldest homosexual rights group was swift.

“This letter is so extreme in tone that I can only extend to Mr. Dannemeyer my gratitude,” said Thomas B. Stoddard, executive director of the New York-based Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund.

“This letter will greatly enhance our fund-raising efforts and demonstrates more concretely than any other document I have ever seen that gay people are still the object of irrational hatred in this country, even at the level of the U.S. Congress.”

Stoddard, who has debated Dannemeyer on national television several times on the issue of homosexual rights, added: “Mr. Dannemeyer’s personal fascination with the subject of homosexuality transcends that of any gay person I know. . . . It’s more than interest. It’s really obsession.”

Stoddard said his organization believes that an executive order along the lines of the one suggested by Dannemeyer would be found to unconstitutionally limit the right to free speech.

In his letter to the President, Dannemeyer cited half a dozen examples of what he described as the federal government’s promotion of the homosexual life style. They included:

- A decision by the National Endowment for the Arts to finance the display of a homosexual artist’s work at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, an exhibit that Dannemeyer described as “homoerotic.”

- A proposal by the National Institutes of Health to study the sexual habits of Americans. Dannemeyer said a principal involved in the proposal “has a long list of credits favoring homosexual behavior.”

- The U.S. Postal Service’s announcement that it will commemorate with a special cancellation the 1969 “Stonewall riot” in New York City. The incident, in which homosexuals battled with police, has been cited as a turning point in the homosexual rights movement.

Finally, Dannemeyer told Bush, “The greatest misuse of government funds in promotion of the homosexual life style in your Administration, as that of your predecessor, is the creation of our federal AIDS industry.”

Dannemeyer has long called for widespread testing for HIV, the virus that is believed to cause acquired immune deficiency syndrome. The congressman has argued that such testing should be confidential, but not anonymous, so that public health officials can trace the sexual partners of those found to be infected.

“National leadership has only offered us the pathology of anonymity, a testament to homosexual influence in the policy-making process,” Dannemeyer told the President.

“I believe the public does not care who in the federal government is homosexual,” the letter states. “But I do believe they care when this sexual pathology subjectively biases otherwise rational thought or in some way compromises the national interest or national security.”

In an interview Friday, Dannemeyer said of Stoddard’s remarks: “I think the question we should ask the Stoddards of this world is very simple. ‘Am I supposed to apologize for affirming the heterosexual ethic that is the foundation of our society?’

“I feel sorry for Mr. Stoddard. He and others of his persuasion tragically have been misled by leaders in our society in the last 20 years . . . who have effectively questioned our standards of sexuality . . . and in so doing have sent the false signal . . . that if it feels good, do it.”