Perot Vows Not to Tolerate Bias Against Gays

Undeclared presidential candidate Ross Perot, under pressure from gay and lesbian activists to clarify his apparently anti-gay statements, declared Wednesday that if he is elected, he will not tolerate discrimination based on sexual orientation anywhere in the government.

But his effort fell short with some activists, who complained that he did not specifically address a key issue: the military’s ban on homosexuals.

The Texas billionaire clearly was trying to back away from comments he made to ABC’s Barbara Walters last May that he probably would not appoint gays to top-level Cabinet positions--such as secretary of the defense, treasury or education--and that it was not “realistic” to have gays in the armed forces. Later, as a clarification, he said he was concerned that the confirmation process would devastate a gay nominee. Perot has been heckled by gay activists at virtually all of his public appearances in the last month.

In a four-paragraph statement issued in Dallas, Perot said: “I have always prohibited discrimination in my business, and I have no intention of changing that policy. If elected President, my policy for the nation will be that each person should be judged on merit and any discrimination based on gender, race, religion or sexual orientation will not be tolerated. What people do in their private lives is their own business.”

The statement also called for accelerated research on AIDS and vigorous prosecution of those who engage in hate crimes. The document also states: “No one should have to lie about who they are. No one should have to live their life in secrecy.”

Perot’s new position puts him much closer to Democrat Bill Clinton than to President Bush. Clinton has explicitly rejected anti-gay discrimination, including in the military, while Bush has walked a tightrope on the issue to try to keep anti-gay conservatives and religious fundamentalists within the GOP coalition.

Perot’s proclamation grew from a series of meetings Perot and senior aides have had with gay activists over the last month, including one in Irvine June 18. The most recent session, held Monday at Perot’s business headquarters in Dallas, included highly charged testimony from victims of anti-gay discrimination and violence.

Mike Grossman, co-chairman of the Human Rights Campaign Fund, a national gay rights lobby, said the group that met with Perot on Monday was particularly interested in Perot’s views on gays in the military. One of the participants, Dusty Pruitt, was dismissed from the Army Reserves just before she was to have been promoted to major after her superiors learned she is a lesbian.

Grossman, who also attended the session, said he was disappointed that Perot did not directly address the military ban. “It would have been very easy for him to add the words ‘including the military’ at the end of the statement. We need to have those words said. And we’re going to keep after him until he does say them.”

“That’s first and foremost on our minds,” said David M. Smith, spokesman for the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Service Center. “. . . My guess is that gays and lesbians are still not going to support him until there’s a definite statement on this subject.”

But Gloria Allred, a Los Angeles civil rights lawyer who was at the meeting, was satisfied. She said the statement clearly encompasses the military.

“While there are many other ways he could have stated it, I think this statement does provide a policy position which is clearly protective of gay and lesbian rights in many areas, including, but not limited to, the military and the Cabinet,” she said.

Allred, who had submitted a proposed statement to Perot, said that she had suggested the wording “my policy for the nation. “ Perot used that phrase in his statement. Allred said she was told Wednesday that this was meant to include the military and the Cabinet. Allred stressed that she is not a Perot supporter.

Morton H. Meyerson, a longtime Perot associate and confidant, said that the statement was designed to include the military and every other public and private institution. Meyerson organized the meetings with gay leaders and has led the Perot team’s policy-making on civil rights issues.

Meyerson said the statement was deliberately crafted as a broad statement of principles. He said Perot was reluctant to interject himself into the issue of military anti-gay policies because of pending court cases on the matter.

“Ross is against discrimination any place, any time,” Meyerson said. He said that Perot was not retreating from any commitments made at Monday’s meeting, but that he wanted to make the declaration sufficiently broad to include all discrimination in all settings.

“I’m not trying to dance on the head of a pin,” he said. “Is he going to select a gay or lesbian to serve in the Cabinet? The answer is, who knows? Is he going to tolerate discrimination anywhere? The answer is no. That goes for the military and everywhere else.”

Grossman applauded Meyerson’s clarification but said he still wasn’t satisfied. “It’s wonderful to have Mort saying it. It’s a milestone. But I’m still going to try to get him (Perot) to include the military.”

And Mary Newcombe, a Los Angeles gay-rights attorney who represents Pruitt, said Perot could have said whether he supports pending legislation to reverse the military’s anti-gay policy. She also said he failed to say if he supports legislation to ban job discrimination against gays.

“Until he makes that kind of effort,” she said, “what he’s still saying is that gays and lesbians are second-class citizens.”

Broder reported from Dallas and Cheevers from Los Angeles. Times staff writer Mathis Chazanov contributed to this story.