Clinton Criticized on Role of Gays in Military

Supporters and opponents of President Clinton’s plan to lift the ban on homosexuals in the military quickly criticized the President Tuesday for saying he might agree to job restrictions on gay service personnel, contending that such a step would create serious morale problems.

Advocates of homosexual rights said barring gays and lesbians from combat and other military assignments would create a separate but unequal career path for them. Backers of the current ban objected that if a number of noncombat jobs were reserved for homosexuals, the chances for heterosexuals of ending up in riskier combat jobs would increase.

“This would not be compromise. This would be capitulation to the other side,” said Thomas B. Stoddart, coordinator of the Campaign for Military Service, a coalition seeking an end to the ban on homosexuals in the armed services.

“All we’re asking for is to be treated like everyone else,” said Navy aviator Tracy W. Thorne, who is facing dismissal for being homosexual. Thorne called the idea of job restrictions “highly inappropriate” and said it would prevent him from returning to flight duty with the attack jet squadron he served in before publicly declaring his homosexuality.

Supporters of the military’s current ban warned that a compromise arrangement would still have a disastrous impact on military morale while leading to further complications. “This is not going to resolve the issue,” said Charles S. Moskos, a noted military sociologist at Northwestern University. “Does that mean that gays would be treated like women and not sent into combat?”

The possibility that avowed homosexuals might be allowed to serve in the military but with restrictions was raised in a question to Clinton Tuesday. The President responded that if the services can discriminate in accepting recruits, “then I would think you could make appropriate distinctions on duty assignments once they are in.”

A senior Administration official, speaking to reporters after Tuesday’s news conference, said the President still “thinks it’s wrong to discriminate against people on the basis of what they say they are.” The official said he did not know whether the President has a firm position on the constitutionality of barring homosexuals from certain military jobs once they are admitted, and suggested Clinton was speaking rhetorically in addressing this point during the news conference.